What is Freedom and why do I talk about it?

Good old Webster tells me “1 : the quality or state of being free: such as. a : the absence of necessity, coercion, or constraint in choice or action.”

This is pretty overarching so we will go with it. The absence of necessity, coercion or constraint in choice or action. There are a lot of areas of life that freedom is lived out, or sadly not lived out in. Financial freedom is one that comes to mind.

As a physical therapist, especially in home health, I get to see first hand everyday the glaring lack of freedom so many people live with. They are slaves to their previous bad choices, current predicaments, and often times poor health that is completely outside of their control. They aren’t free.

While some of these people are physically constrained in one way or another, whether it is simply getting tired more quickly than they wish, or they have non-weight bearing restrictions from a recent fracture, MANY are constrained by fear.

The fear of falling, the fear of a certain movement, the fear of getting sick, the fear of….fill in the blank. Many of these people aren’t free because they are thinking about a situation wrongly and they are enslaved by their fear.

You may be thinking, why is this physical therapist, strength/conditioning guy talking about this? Good question because I feel like we don’t talk about it enough. It shouldn’t be weird. The reason I am passionate about getting people strong and free is because oftentimes people in my profession/position are actually part of the problem.

 

Why are you afraid of going down your stairs? Well…I might fall

Why are you wearing that knee brace? Well…my doctor told me my knee is bone on bone and would give out.

Why are you afraid to lift your “dog” (insert 7 pound chihuahua)? Well….my physical therapist/chiro/trainer told me I have a slipped disc.

 

These are the conversations I am having with people all day long. These are smart people, many of them have been on this earth for 2-3 times as long as I have and they have been made to fear their bodies and their world.

This is the reason I want to inspire people to be free.

90% of this is not the load I select (10% is though…don’t under load people in home health)

90% of this is how I talk to these people.

People want to be free. It’s time to help them understand that they are robust (mentally and physically) or to use Webster’s words un-constrain them.