I'm sure some of you stackers have felt this as well but for me, after being orange pilled, stacking sats, and lowering my time preference, time seems to flow differently compared to that of my peers who still operate within the fiat system. I feel more liberated and I no longer feel like "I never have time to do anything" and I don't ever use not having time or being too busy as an excuse anymore. In fact the opposite is now true, in that I have more free time than I know what to do with nowadays.
Which leads me to this idea of free time vs freedom time.
It's quite the simple concept. In my mind, free time is the time that we have to mess around and just relax, and have fun with no sort of direction or goal set in mind. Free time is what we are tricked into believing is the pinnacle goal of life, to retire and to enjoy our free time that we slaved our lives away in order to obtain. To be able to just sip on a pina colada at some beautiful beach somewhere and live in a resort where there's endless entertainment, food, and drinks. Or to live in some "American dream" mansion and ride luxurious cars and flaunt that you're retired until you die.
Free time also has a bit of a negative image to it. Some view all forms of free time as time that could otherwise be used towards being busy and productive, and see free time as something exclusive to those who are lazy and unproductive. This is quite common in Asian culture, and I being Japanese can attest to the workaholic nature of the East, in which free time is labeled as utter nonsense and laziness. Work, work, work, work, pay bills, work, work, be productive, work, rinse and repeat. No free time whatsoever.
However, after being able to store value and, therefore, store future time away for myself with Bitcoin, I have been able to buy myself a decent amount of free time, in which the time is not being allocated toward being busy bodied, working, and being productive for someone else. I now have this time, free time, that I can choose how to use for myself.
So then what is the difference between free time and freedom time? This is an idea I kind of just came up with but in my mind, the main distinction is freedom time is free time but with clear goals, motivation, drive, and passion behind the usage of it. For instance, for my life, I use freedom time to improve my health and work towards optimizing my mental and physical health to it's full potential. I also use this newly obtained freedom time to become the best footballer I can become, which takes a lot of time to accomplish. Writing on stackernews and commenting on other stackers valuable posts I believe is an expression of my freedom time, as to me a goal of mine is to do my part in progressing the Bitcoin network forward in whatever way I can, and stackernews is a great place to learn, and to interact and share with the community. Spending as much time with friends and family, and truly listening and communicating with each and every one of them with an open mind and heart is something that I have been able to do with this freedom time as well. Whereas before, hanging out with friends fell under the scope of free time not freedom time, as I would be hanging out with friends but at the same time my mind would be occupied by work or some other fiat worry and I would not be fully present.
This is why I know without a doubt in my mind, I will never be retired, in the sense that I no longer work towards something and just live a life stuck in free time, with no purpose or drive to do anything. I strive to maintain, cherish, and make the most of whatever freedom time I acquire, and to use that freedom time to it's maximum potential.
With all that being said, I think the general progression goes like this. No time except fiat slavery time > stack some sats, store away some time for future you > acquire a bit of free time as a result of stacking sats > enjoy free time > learn to use free time more effectively, enter freedom time > utilize freedom time to live your best life.
This post is very raw and honestly fresh off the top of my head but also thought was worth sharing. Do you feel time flows a bit differently compared to your nocoiner peers? What do you with your free time? What do you do with your freedom time? How has your usage of time changed after becoming a Bitcoiner?