Are you giving yourself permission to be free?

October 25, 2026

I recently paid to attend an all-day event I was really excited about.

I loved the speaker. I loved the content. I was completely aligned with what she was teaching.

And sitting there, I kept hearing something inside me saying:

Go home.

I wanted to be home. I wanted to be outside in the sun. I wanted to take my dog for a walk.

But then the other voices kicked in.

You paid for this.

Don’t be rude.

What if you miss something?

You should stay.

Meanwhile, the speaker kept talking about following your highest excitement.

And suddenly I thought, Wait a minute.

Maybe I already got exactly what I came for.

So I left.

And the minute I gave myself permission to go, I was reminded of something I seem to need to learn over and over again:

My freedom lives in my willingness to choose, consciously.

And maybe that’s the question we need to be asking ourselves more in motherhood:

Am I consciously choosing this, or am I being run by obligation?

How often do you override what you really want because you think you should do something else?

You stay longer.

You say yes when you want to say no.

You go because you don’t want to disappoint someone.

You keep an agreement that no longer feels aligned because you’re afraid changing your mind will seem rude, selfish, or wasteful.

And maybe you’ve become so accustomed to living from obligation that you don’t even notice what it costs you.

I know what it costs me.

I’ve stayed when I wanted to leave.

I’ve done the thing because I thought I should.

And I’ve come home depleted, resentful, or drained, without the energy to be present for the connection I actually want.

Living from obligation doesn’t only impact you. Your family feels it too.

And the opposite is also true.

When you give yourself permission to listen to yourself and choose what feels most alive, something changes.

You have more energy.

More joy.

More presence.

You become more available for the people you love because you’re no longer abandoning yourself to be there for everyone else.

You become more fully you.

And there’s another gift in that.

We say we want our kids to feel free to be themselves.

To trust themselves.

To choose the life that’s right for them instead of the life everyone else thinks they should live.

But we have to be willing to go first.

If you want your kids to experience freedom, let them see what it looks like on you.

So here’s my invitation this week:

Notice where the ‘shoulds‘ are running you.

Where are you doing something primarily out of obligation?

Where are you overriding yourself because you don’t want to disappoint someone, seem rude, or change your mind?

And what might become possible if you gave yourself permission to choose differently?

Your freedom doesn’t begin when everyone else gives you permission.

It begins when you give it to yourself.

And that may be the greatest gift you ever give yourself and your family.

in trust and gratitude,

Annmarie Chereso
Author, Speaker, Coach, & Meditation Teacher