"Freedom is the ability to make conscious choices in accord with our deepest values. It is the opposite of reactivity, which we could define as acting on every whim, impulse, and emotion that we experience. Reactivity leads us to self-destructive choices. Freedom requires self-awareness and the skill of choosing where to place our attention and how to frame the circumstances we find ourselves in. We all feel hopeless at times. Events have the power to knock us to our knees. Even with self-awareness, it's too much to expect that our response to everything be transcendent. We all grow tired of trying. Or as one of my friends put it, "I am so damn tired of these fucking growth experiences."