🔥 You’re Free — But Are You Lit Up?

This week, we’ll celebrate “freedom.”

Flags will fly. Fireworks will boom.
And for one night, the sky will remember how to be wild.

But in the morning…
most people will go right back to living like they’re locked up.

Not behind bars —
but behind roles.
Routines.
Expectations.
Stress.
Shame.
A schedule they never asked for.
A life that looks good on paper… and feels hollow in their chest.

Freedom isn’t the absence of walls.
It’s the presence of passion.

Not long ago, I spent 90 days in county jail.
And while I’ll never compare that to what others have endured —
it taught me something I can’t unlearn.

Each day, I left the jail to work in a garden center.
Surrounded by sunlight. Color. Life in bloom.
Then returned to a locked cell — no voice, no privacy, no rights.

But the wildest part?

Sometimes the people I passed on the outside
looked more imprisoned than I felt.

Eyes dim. Shoulders heavy.
Rushing, numbing, surviving.

It shook me.
Because that was me too, before.

And then I heard journalist Cheng Lei say this in her TED Talk,
after surviving three years in a secret Chinese prison:

“Freedom is wasted on the free.”

She’s not wrong.
We’ve normalized living disconnected.
Burnt out.
Numb.
Unlit.

We treat joy like a luxury.
Presence like an afterthought.
Passion like it’s only for the lucky ones.

But what if passion is the point?

This isn’t about trauma.
It’s about truth.

You don’t need to be in a prison to feel imprisoned.
And you don’t need to escape your life —
you need to ignite it.

Real freedom is being able to feel again.
To breathe deeper.
To want what you have.
To be fully here.

That’s what I’m here for.
To provoke the kind of passion that wakes people up —
not to “have it all,” but to feel it fully.

Because when you’re truly free…
your heart beats louder than your calendar.
And your life starts to move with you again.

This week, as we celebrate independence…
don’t just ask what you’re free from.
Ask what you’re free for.

And let your answer light the fuse.

🎥 Watch Cheng Lei’s TED Talk:
What I Learned About Freedom in a Secret Chinese Prison

https://www.ted.com/talks/lei_cheng_what_i_learned_about_freedom_in_a_secret_chinese_prison?utm_campaign=tedspread&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=tedcomshare

💬 Ready to reclaim your own inner freedom?
Let’s talk - https://zcal.co/iwantchange/nextstep

#Freedom #Voices #FreedomIsAnInsideJob #PassionProvoker #July4th #LeadershipWithSoul #MadeForMore