The Hidden Price of Freedom: Are You Choosing to Live Someone Else’s Story?

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The Hidden Price of Freedom: Are You Choosing to Live Someone Else’s Story?

Joseph Brodsky stood in a Soviet courtroom, an accused “parasite.” His crime? Writing poetry in a society that demanded obedience. He was exiled, his words silenced, his freedom stolen. Years later, when Brodsky landed in the United States, he discovered the kind of freedom that transforms potential into greatness. No one dictated what he could write, whom he could become, or what story his life would tell.

I’m no Brodsky, but I too spent many years behind the Iron Curtain in the USSR.

Growing up under a regime that dictated every aspect of life, I learned what it’s like to have very few choices in life. Freedom was something distant, almost mythical—something you’d read about in books but never experience.

The paradox is—living in a free society doesn’t automatically make you free.

In Chapter 2 of Little Book of Big Reasons to Love America, I explore the deep connection between freedom and human flourishing. Freedom isn’t just the absence of tyranny and the presence of choice. It’s the ability to live a life that aligns with your deepest values, talents, and dreams.

Yet, most people living in free societies still aren’t free. They stay in careers they hate, follow paths laid out by others, or live in fear of disappointing expectations. They exchange their freedom for the illusion of stability and comfort.

I’ve seen this pattern over and over—not just in others, but in myself. For years, I too followed a script that wasn’t mine, believing it was the safest route. I wasn’t free. I was just secure.

True freedom requires more than opportunity; it demands intentionality. If you’re not writing your own story, someone else is writing it for you.

Ask yourself these three questions to challenge the status quo and snap out of living someone else’s story…

I’ll also share a bonus video with stories from Little Book of Big Reasons to Love America about what life without freedom really looks like—and why living intentionally is the ultimate act of freedom.