Free & Clear

I hear today’s title often used when talking about mortgages or the titles to vehicles.  It means you have the title in hand free and clear and you no longer owe anything on the mortgage or vehicle. I know. How could I possibly pull this one in to something about life?  Well, here goes. At what point in life do we become free & clear and owe nothing?  It is a strange question I know, and I admit it can sound selfish, but stay with me.

I see being free and clear as arriving at the point of understanding that life owes me nothing, and I am not entitled to a damn thing.  Rather, I am allowed to participate in how my life pans out based on what I put into it. Instead of being spectator and waiting to see what it brings me, I choose to be a participator and take an active role in the process. 

If people shit on me and take advantage of me, I own it because I made decisions that allowed the wrong people in my life.  If people are great to me, I own it because I made decisions that allowed the right people in my life.  That same concept applies to all aspects of my life when I stay actively engaged and participate.

To be truly free and clear means to understand that our lives are what we make them.  Take the good with the bad, learn from them both, and keep moving forward. As long as you’re moving, you’re learning, and if you’re learning, you’re on the path to being free and clear.