You woke up this morning. Obvious, right? I mean, you are awake and breathing, able to read this. But how, exactly, did you wake up? Was it your natural internal clock telling you that its time to start your day? Was it a dream that ended abruptly? Or maybe, it was your partner’s arising on their side of the bed leading to your slumber being cut short. The possibilities of how one wakes up are quite numerous, now that I think about it. But through the myriad of things that could have caused you to wake up, the most likely culprit is your alarm clock. And the most likely reason for you needing an alarm clock (unless today happens to be one of your two weekly days off) is America’s infamous backbone, also known as the “9 to 5.”

Being an employee in America more often than not consists of logging an absolutely mind-numbing 40 hours a week, at least. This does not include the extra hours that many are forced to take on, in order to make ends meet. Substituting that amount of time for money is one thing, but also devoting every ounce of your daily energy to the pursuit of money that will be gone as soon as you obtain it? That, my friend, is a recipe for a long, miserable life. It appears the phrase (as you may have heard more times than you could imagine), “nothing in this world is free,” is open to more interpretations than just one. The 9 to 5 routine does not sound anything like freedom, in my opinion.

“Shit…” Yeah, we’ve all been there. “Ok, I’ll sleep until 7:38, and then I’ll get up.” Yeah, we’ve all been there, too. The worst part about this repetitive disappointment is that you more than likely don’t have a choice but to get up, get dressed, and engage in the same routine at your designated place of employment. What a frustrating reality. Ironically, our national anthem refers to this country as the “land of the free.” Does this sound anything like freedom?

Being practically forced to go to work for 40 hours a week, constantly wishing there was a way out, is not freedom. When people think of incarceration, they think of being locked down and told what to do every day. Being told when you can eat, when its time to wake up, and when you can go home. Every single day waking up behind steel bars, with no hopeful thoughts about the next day. This may seem like an extreme comparison, but is it any different from being on the clock from sunrise to sunset, just to have to do the same thing for 4 more days (AT LEAST) of the week? A set time of when you can eat lunch and when you can clock out? Have you ever gotten home after a long day’s work and said to yourself: “Damn, I cannot WAIT for my alarm to go off at 7:30 AM so I can sit in morning traffic!?” If you have, then I commend you for being the most curiously optimistic person that I have ever heard of. Odds are, you have only uttered the exact opposite. But what is the solution to such a common problem? Many rationalize the traditional work week with the fact that almost everybody does it. “Its the norm.” “Its life.”

The concept of freedom is foreign to many (almost all) Americans.  The very small percentile who possess the full understanding of this concept, consists of the people who pull the strings. Do you think your manager’s manager is pulling 40 hour work weeks? I highly doubt it. Or, maybe he or she is. The difference either way? They are not dreading the two week period between their next salaried pay check. The 40 hours worked by the average American do not equate to the same 40 hours worked by his or her puppet master. Being free means being able to do what you want, whenever you want to do it, because YOU want to do it. Can you, right now as an obligated employee, wake up tomorrow morning at 11:00 AM without any penalty? In any case, this would be rather unproductive, but do you have the freedom to choose when you want to be that unproductive?  Can you spontaneously tell your partner or spouse, “Pack your bags, we’re flying to Santorini for the week,” without first consulting anyone?

Being told what to do, living life how you have to live it, in order to survive and not how you want to live it, is not how life is designed to be lived. At the end of the day, everyone has to answer to someone at some point in their life. For example, everyone in this country has to pay taxes; that is absolutely nonnegotiable. The IRS is an omniscient authority and is to be respected as such, no matter how unfair or unbearable one may deem them to be. However, everyone in this country does not have to answer to a boss or superior figure for their entire life.

Granted, the experience, both personal and professional, that can be gained through such employment is very valuable for more reasons than one. But as with a caterpillar transforming into a butterfly, there comes a point in one’s life where he or she must break free and blaze a path of their own. A path that is absent of having to meet the demands of others but is solely designed for meeting the demands of one’s self. A path that consists of being able to embrace a life showered in spontaneity and freedom, not misery and bondage.