Self-rule

Many people think and feel like they are free when they get to do what they want or get to "be themselves," whatever that means. 

But I prefer to be a man, in the broadest sense of that word, as in human.

I do not have to make choices based on who I am or what I want.  

I've reached a point in my adult life when I often find myself making decisions based on who I want to be.  

It's an odd sensation to rule myself, since I did not always do this. 

But now I will stand within myself yet apart from myself and tell myself what to do. 

Sometimes I reason with myself.

Oft times I simply command myself, because I have already reasoned and decided the thing I am choosing many times before I am there making the choice again.

And it's ironic. 

In ruling myself rather than simply doing whatever I desire or am apt to do at the moment, I find the truest freedom.

I find I get to actually be myself and do what I want.

In ruling myself, I am set free.

"It is for freedom He set us free."