Responsibility and Freedom

If you’ve been reading Beyond the Rhetoric for a while now, then you might remember a blog post that I wrote on freelance responsibility and freedom. In a nutshell, any freedom that you are offered will always come with a certain level of responsibility. Running my own freelance writing business, for example, I must be responsible enough to stay focused without having a supervisor breathe down my neck. It’s about more than just survival.

For this edition of What’s Up Wednesdays, I felt it was timely to revisit this notion of responsibility and freedom. I turned to the blogging community for inspiration and found the articles described below. Do you want to be featured in a future edition of What’s Up Wednesdays? Then you should follow me on Twitter. I usually put a call out for posts on Tuesday evening or Wednesday morning.

Freedom from Debt

We live in a consumer-driven society, so an unfortunate side effect is that many people find themselves buried in debt. Not Flexo. Not anymore. He had a sizable student loan, but as of Monday, he is completely debt-free. Congratulations! How about you? Have you taken the responsible route of spending wisely so that you too can enjoy freedom from debt?

Escaping the Wintertime Blues

Due largely to the reduced sunlight we receive, seasonal affective disorder afflicts many of us around this time of year. Damien Riley takes a moment to discuss this S.A.D. time of the year, reminding us that seasonal affective disorder affects an estimated six out of ten people. Light therapy and daily exercise appear to address some of the symptoms.

Homeless People Are Richer Than You

Life is all about perspective. Neil Patel challenges our perceptions of homeless people, reminding us that they’re actually richer than you. In fact, they are sometimes even richer than Donald Trump. That’s because while many people battle with car loans, credit card debts, and mortgages, homeless folk don’t have any debt. Their net worth may be $0, but if you’re buried in debt, you’ve got a negative net worth.

Eliminating the Daily Commute

Even if you don’t want to start your own home-based business, Chris De La Rosa explores the possibility of telecommuting. On paper, telecommuting could be a win-win situation for both the employer and the employee, but does it really work? It’s certainly not without its shortcomings.

Financial Success is Child’s Play

With great power comes great responsibility, but the reverse can also be true. MoneyNing encourages you to let your children handle their own finances. They’ll learn all about the value of a dollar, how to manage their money, and to always check their financial statements. With that, they can gain all sorts of freedom (and power). That’s what we want for our children, right? To empower them?