The Utopia of Individual Freedom
“Part of creating a space of freedom is to create a fun personal space.”
First of all, if you never heard of or never watched an anime called One Piece, I believe you are missing out on one of the most enchanting fantasy worlds. One Piece captivated me with the idea of freedom that entails the journey of a young pirate who dreams to be the King of Pirate, who goes by the name Monkey D. Luffy. During the last 5 months, I was busy catching up with more than 1000 episodes, while as each episode goes by, I endlessly question the idea of personal freedom and my confidence in being an independent person.
Well, is it really possible for us who live in this real world to actually be free, among the harsh society driven by capitalism and competition?
Since the 1970s, the term “information overload” has captured society’s anxiety about the growth in the production of information having potentially bad consequences for people as they struggle to cope with seemingly constant streams of messages and images. The advent of the internet, it was thought, would only exacerbate this, with the onset of ubiquitous connectivity turning information overload into something even more debilitating. My 9-year-old niece possesses the ability to demand her parents the most random things at the most unexpected time, which led to her emotional outbursts thanks to the “peer pressure” from same-aged strangers that she encountered through TikTok.
Such phenomenon also happens among adults, we develop needs that are often affected by the explosion of information that we consume. Psychologists have recognized for many years that humans have a limited capacity to store current information in memory. Psychologist George Armitage Miller was very influential in this regard, proposing that people can process about seven chunks of information at a time. Miller says that under overload conditions, people become confused and are likely to make poorer decisions based on the information they have received as opposed to making informed ones. Thus, the sense of freedom that we have while living in this society seems to be a utopia. A comforting idea to ensure that each one of us does not lose our identity and authenticity as a person.
Personally, I desire to be actually free, at least during my personal time, and I relentlessly try to control the amount of information by curating my social media. Creating a setup that is comfortable for me to actually be comfortable. This is what we identify as “Space for Fun”, a real-world activity that dismantle me from the fear of missing out, also does not pressure me to compel with the pressure by society’s norms.
Thanks to Luffy, I realized that the core of creating a space for fun is also removing what gets in the way of it. Well, for Luffy it might equal fighting against oppressors. For me, it means letting myself go from the validation of others, concerns about my performance on social media, or waving the pressure of perfectionism.
But first, People…
Other than letting go, we also need to fill our space for fun with fun magnets, which will be helpful for us to feel free. According to my therapist, I need to start by identifying people that help me to feel healthier in the mind. Those who do not poke at my insecurities, sincerely care about my stories, and make me actually happy to be around them.
At this point, you might roll your eyes thinking that I am stating the obvious. That is a sign that you are lucky, to be surrounded by such people, and I am happy for you.
But, for me, or almost 1 million other Indonesian children who are affected by divorce, it is very hard to find such people. Each child and each family are obviously unique, with different strengths and weaknesses, different personalities and temperaments, and varying degrees of social, emotional, and economic resources, as well as differing family situations prior to divorce. Despite these differences, divorce has been shown to diminish a child’s future competence in all areas of life, including family relationships, education, emotional well-being, and future earning power.
Well, it took me more than 20 years to finally build a personal circle of friendship that emphasize such criteria. If you are like me, a lonely kid who just wants to be accepted, maybe you can start by listening to your own curiosity. What kind of person do you want to be with? It is totally okay to be selfish and to ‘hand-pick’ people that you treasure. But consequentially, you need to expand your circles. To explore, to experience, to get hurt, and to feel sad, are the only ways to find those who actually care. It might take time, and according to various stories, it really took us a lifetime to find people that worthy of friendship. But, once you find such friendship it is worth a lifetime.
Second, Activities..
Other than building relationships with people, creating a space for fun also means finding happiness without them. Well, according to various research, it is important for an individual to take part in activities and to have hobbies. So, to be free is to find activities that actually suit us, stripping us of the pressure of being perfect, or societal demands. This is where I get very jealous of Luffy who is living a perfect life where he lives each day doing things he loves.
But, in this reality, activities that make me happy are way easier than being a pirate. For me, it’s art. Be it books, songs, movies, paintings, poems, or dolls, I love art. I can spend more than 48 hours doing nothing other than reading books or watching 90 episodes of One Piece.
before you say anything, yes, I believe anime = art. Anything that is created by humans, for me, is worthy to be defined as art.
Those days, are not worthless for me. In this wealth-obsessed and fame-obsessed society, we are constantly in demand to be productive. To do something to improve our worth and ability. Well, I just wish to remind ourselves that feeling happy, while enjoying things, is also productive. When was the last time you do things simply because you want to?
Lastly, You..
Dear friends, a huge part of being free is, to be honest with ourselves.
I regard this as the biggest challenge of being an individual in this society. We are constantly under pressure to go with the flow. The flow is ruled by the majority (no offense to democracy). Being different equals being an attention seeker, being a weirdo, or even worse, being an outsider. Then society will scrutinize you for being an outsider and makes you the bad person in the story.
I assure you, being different, or in this case, being authentic is never wrong. To dislike things, to ignore things, is completely your right. To walk your own path, to sit down in a restaurant by yourself, to wear the most random clothes, to be pretty while running, to be you, is never wrong. Being honest with yourself is never wrong.
I won’t elaborate further on this because only you can identify whether you are living honestly with yourself or not. But, do not measure your happiness or likes and dislikes by the voice of others. Especially do not establish your standard of living according to the media, or influencers. Build your own standard, by exploring things, but be honest with your likings.
If you like them, and it is in line with what’s on trend, then it’s good.
If you like them, and it is not in line with what’s on trend, it is also good.
Last but not least, I wish we can let ourselves go from the utopia of individual freedom, and actually feel free at least inside our space of fun. To actually feel fun, regardless of how the world rolls. In this reality where it is actually impossible for most of us to be a pirate, hopefully, we can at least have moments in our day when we are completely ourselves and feel fun.
Ciao!~
