Are You Unfreedoming Yourself?
You are free only if you can do what you decide. If someone can stop you, then you are not free. A person without willpower stops themselves from doing what he/she decides. Hence a person without willpower is not free.
Sometimes we beat ourselves up for not having willpower regarding small things we have not entirely decided about.
We say, “I have no willpower around cake.”
The statement is only true if you absolutely decided to not have cake. Figuring that you probably shouldn’t is not the same as deciding.
If you chose to not eat cake as part of a bigger goal such as weight loss, you may still allow yourself to occasionally eat cake under the condition that you burn the calories on the treadmill. If you satisfy the condition, and indeed burn off the calories, you uphold your word to yourself. You still have willpower and are free.
Of course having to work off food on a treadmill sucks. This is why it is preferable to make solid decisions on big stuff and be flexible with small stuff. Obsessing about particulars can distract from bigger things.
But stick to the decisions you make with your soul. If you flake out on them, you unfreedom your soul. By flaking out on yourself, you jail your soul. Your soul suffers in this state.
