Crystal Aura Gaze

DAY 14: [ARTEMIS] What makes you feel free?

Artemis is the goddess of hunt. She lives in the wilderness and is not married, referred to as “the virgin goddess.”

What makes me feel free is having no obligations or expectations.

It’s freeing when I’m surrounded by people who won’t judge me. And that’s a very rare feeling, because as humans, we are designed to judge. Judgement is not necessarily a negative thing. Judging is equivalent to pointing at the sky and saying “this is blue.” It’s how we make sense of the world. It’s also a way of feeling like we have control over things, or know more than we actually do.

I like being in the company of someone who will not categorize anything I do, say, wear, etc. as “good” or “bad.” It’s freeing to know that you can completely be yourself around someone, you don’t have to filter your words or sense of expression, in order to receive approval.

Being in the company of my partner, Kevin, makes me feel free. I feel like I am free to be anything I want to be around him. I can be in a terrible mood, or I can be really hyper and ecstatic, and he accepts me. I can burp, I can be wearing no makeup, I could even stop showering if I wanted and I know he’d still accept me. Or, I can be extremely feminine, I can wear a beautiful dress. I can be very silly and laugh at everything. Or I can be super serious and go on a lengthy rant for hours at a time.

To me, freedom means unconditional love. It means that you’re not expected to be perfect. It means that whatever you do is enough. The opposite of freedom, to me, is when people tell you that you are not good enough, that you have to meet their expectations, that you have to be the person they want you to be. Because we all have different ideas of what it means to be human.

Freedom is looking up at the sky and just feeling grateful for its beauty. Who cares if it’s blue?