Here’s to deconstructing the phrase “you are a free spirit.”
In corporate America, the apparent misfits with hair that’s a little twisted, a mind that’s slightly more creative than analytical, the brain that thinks in big pictures versus tiny details, and the personality that’s a little too loud, often gets labeled “the free spirit.”
But in my head, it’s the exact opposite.
I am a caged spirit.
Despite your analysis that I look differently and think differently, the only real difference between the “free spirits” and the corporate cultural “fits” is awareness that the majority of what we are devoting our lives to, the days spent away from our friends and family, the hours spent not making love to our spouses, are used instead on projects that have no worldly significance beyond someone’s bottom line. But maybe for the sake of our livelihood we need that work – for rent and food and to feed those families we aren’t spending time with. So then why in the hell have we built our work world around doing activities that don’t directly influence our families? Was hunting not work? Building houses not work? Raising babies not work? Farming our own food not work?
But maybe we don’t have time for that now. So instead we give the corporation our time in exchange for packaged chicken, constructed homes, and nannies.
And those hours spent in the office, arguing and screaming about a deadline, the amount of energy devoted to stressing, trembling, worrying, anxiety over…a deal? Not over hungry babies, not over abused women, not over bullied gay people, and dead unarmed black men-no, it is over too many commercial runs, an acquisition that didn’t go through, and an investor fall out.
I am not a free spirit.
I have solely been caged into believing I am only of worth if I devote my hours to the system.
I am not a free spirit. I have been criticized if I’m not able to stomach enough enthusiasm for work that doesn’t build humanity. I am not a free spirit. I am called a “hippie” and irresponsible if I’d rather sit on a mountain then sit at a desk.
That is not being free. Being “a free spirit” is to be plagued with the burden of consciousness that this way of living has been constructed to distract us. Being a “free spirit” is turning awareness into action to make a life that contributes–while sacrificing comforts, LinkedIn updates, and the approval of friends and family.
I am not a free spirit. I’m just caged and looking for a way out.
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