A Certain Kind of Freedom

By Anya Saluja

As kids, most of us wanted to grow up to be teenagers. Being influenced by teenagers in movies, like Rodrick (he was so cool). And then as teenagers, we just wanted to be adults, to have our “Adult” money, to do whatever we want, to be like “, I can’t wait to grow up and do this.” And now we are somewhat grown up, some of us are technically “Adults”.

For a lot of university students, especially those living alone for the first time in uni halls, it feels like complete freedom. You can wake up whenever you want (on weekends). You can eat dinner whenever you want without having to wait for “dinner time.” Freedom is shown in many ways, like watching a show, seeing someone eat soup dumplings, and then immediately getting up and going to Tesco to get them.
That kind of freedom is actually kind of crazy when you think about it. Because you can just do it.

Or like going to the beach after class. It’s the small things, but they’re the ones that make you realise, “yeah, I actually have free will.”

But there is this other kind of freedom, the one that needs responsibility. You’re not surrounded by the same people from high school anymore. It’s completely different. Different people, different interests, different vibes. Having to make friends with a new set of strangers, no one is really like the people you grew up with. You’re expected to act more like an actual adult now (even if some people still treat it like high school). So it feels like a new start. You get to create a new identity altogether. You get to decide what you do when you wake up (besides classes).

“What do I do today?”
“Who do I get to be today?”
“Who do I want to be tomorrow?”

That’s a different kind of freedom, being able to shape your own life as you wish. It is great, but then sometimes, without the structure, you forget to eat dinner since there is no longer a “dinner time.”
Because when no one is telling you what to do, you don’t really know what to do.

Now what?

That’s the thing about this freedom. It sounds simple, but without some kind of structure, it can get messy. Imagine if people in power had this kind of freedom without any rules — history (and the present) shows us what happens. So yes, freedom in university is amazing. The world is your oyster. But it’s also a new road. You could either fall flat on your face. Or you could land exactly where you’re
meant to be. It all depends on what you choose to do with that freedom.