Freelance Your Way to Freedom

26Building Your Financial Freedom Tribe

My favorite things in life don't cost any money. It's really clear that the most precious resource we all have is time.

— Steve Jobs

We are highly social beings, no matter how many times we try to tell ourselves that we do better alone. When we are with other people, we share mirror neurons that let us match each other's emotions; we anticipate other's movements when we're in agreement; and we can even mirror each other's brain activity when we are doing things like telling stories and listening (Morgan 2015).

Putting all that fancy scientific jargon aside—we thrive when we are in communities. That's why humans have been congregating together in towns, tribes, and villages for thousands of years. We know that spiritually, physically, and emotionally we need to be around other people to really reach our peak potential. No matter how much technology we have at our fingertips today, we still have that same primal craving. It's why so many people have a social media addiction—we can't get enough from the people around us.

I believe society's recent harsh shift into idealizing solitude is a dangerous thing for emotional and mental health. You can't deny that spending time with people you love, laughing, smiling, telling stories, dancing, and singing doesn't fill up your soul. The best things in the entire world don't come with a price tag, but we can experience more of them on a regular basis if we set ourselves free, first, from the financial ...