Free Will
Free will, as defined by Merriam Webster is the “freedom of humans to make choices that are not determined by prior causes or by divine intervention.” Though there are many people who will commonly argue that, due to constraints from our government or society, we do not truly have free will, I myself am a firm believer that free will does in fact exist.
It’s fairly obvious that free will exists in the somewhat insignificant areas of our lives, because we normally get to choose what we would like to eat, what to wear, and what songs we want to listen to. It’s a bit less obvious, however, that free will exists in other areas of our lives, such as the decisions we make in regards to our moods and how what other people say effects us. It’s becoming much more commonplace for people to believe that our emotional responses to different situations are not choices that we make, but rather instinctive human nature and reactions that we cannot easily control. I strongly disagree with this, though, and I would even go as far to say that the free will we possess in regards to our emotions is one of the strongest indicators of the power we have to exercise our freedom in making decisions.
My opinion alone doesn’t necessarily validate this idea, but my experiences can, and over the past year or so I’ve begun exercising my free will as much as possible in every area of my life. Without a doubt, I can confirm that it really does exist. For most of my life, I too believed that emotional responses are not something that we can control, and that our reactions to the things people say to us are not our responsibility, but theirs, because they said something to make us feel a certain way. However, at some point, my viewpoint changed, and when I considered that maybe my emotions are always my responsibility, because I can choose how I feel, no matter what other people are doing around me, I decided to put that idea into practice. When I found myself in situations that would normally make me feel hurt and insecure, I chose instead to feel comfortable with myself and disregard others’ opinions of me. In situations where I would normally be feeling anxious, I focused on the facts of the situation and rooted myself in logic in order to remain calm. It became apparent very quickly that I did have 100% control over my emotions, and that is the only proof I believe to be necessary to verify that free will not only exists, but must be realized and put into practice in our lives in order for us to find genuine fulfillment and joy.
