We Want Freedom, but Can We Handle It?

"We spend our lives chasing freedom. As kids, the countdown until summer break starts in April, waiting in blissful impatience for the days when we can wake at noon, stretch toward the sky, and do whatever we want-no alarm clock dictating our lives. Later, it's the longing for graduation, the weekend, retirement: Independence and self-determination shine as our ultimate prize."

"Yet when the ankle weight of responsibility is removed, many of us freeze. The vastness of possibility can feel like an impossible mountain to climb. We have the whole summer to renovate a living room, yet we can't get past buying the paintbrushes, which sit unwrapped in the foyer, staring at us in intimidation. Freedom and autonomy-the very things we crave-start to mock us, whispering, So you thought you could do this yourself?"

"Psychologist Barry Schwartz (2004) notes that an abundance of options can actually reduce our happiness in a concept called the paradox of choice. Similarly, Misuraca et al. (2024) found that "choice overload" is when people risk being weighed down by too many options. Tackling questions like Which career should I choose? and Where should I live? can feel heavy, like carrying around a backpack of rocks when every option seems important, and your mind floods with "what-ifs.""

Freedom excites but can overwhelm when responsibility lacks structure. Unstructured autonomy often produces paralysis amid vast possibilities, turning simple projects into sources of intimidation. An overabundance of options reduces happiness through the paradox of choice; choice overload can weigh people down when many alternatives seem important and the mind floods with what-ifs. Clear boundaries and constraints function as guides that transform limits into productive partners rather than obstacles. Embracing small choices, accepting uncertainty, and using rules or maps helps convert open liberty into manageable action and sustained progress toward goals.

Read at Psychology Today