My good friend Jeff Till just released a phenomenal podcast episode exploring in depth the idea of obligation. Jeff gives both a practical and philosophical account of what personal freedom means.
To him, alarm clocks, vacations, and other common fixtures are indications of your unfreedom. I love Jeff’s take and agree strongly, though there’s still a good bit of nuance and personal exploration needed to tease out the difference between chosen obligations based on intrinsically motivated goals and those that are simply an unchosen chain.
As Seth Godin says, instead of planning your next vacation plan a life you don’t need to escape from.