What are the advantages and disadvantages of independence?

/ 8 March 2010

This question, like a few of the others, has two solid components to answer. It also is very much a question with no wrong answers, but rather answers that stem from personal experience and opinion. This reflection will be of primarily personal independence versus societal/country independence. I’ll first explain where the advantages lie, and from there use those answers to explain where some of the disadvantages lie. At the end I’ll end up explaining the likely obvious conclusion to these reflections wrapping them together as one solid whole reflection and thought.

For the most part the advantages are pretty clear: No one is in direct control of your life most of the time, you get to make decisions regarding that life with no overpowering influence, what exists as yours is yours alone (this is a topic I may talk further on later), and you get the chance to create your own family. But there are also some lesser thought of advantages, plus the deeper understandings of the clear ones. One of those lesser thought of ones is in regard to the fact that independence grants you the freedom that each of us at some level yearn for. Freedom has its own advantages and disadvantages, as well as being able to be considered required ahead of independence. But in truth the two are interconnected and at the same level. When it comes to the deeper understandings of clear advantages I really can’t explain because those are really what each person needs to come to on their own.

Lots of the disadvantages are equally clear. Likewise they are very connected as other side of the coins that are the advantages. Each advantage either has a disadvantage as a partner or is a disadvantage when looked at in a different light. Exploring the deeper understandings of any of the listed and unlisted advantages will bring you to a disadvantage. You being in total control of your life and decisions can very easily backfire and render your existence hard. Having your own family is so much work that for the most part it may be looked at as a disadvantage depending on what job you have. Freedom in itself has a bunch of disadvantages that I won’t dig into here.

To conclude this I mainly need to say that regardless of what of this you agree with the true answers depend a lot on the current situation you’re in. I hint to that when I mention the family-to-job idea, but it also will depend on almost any other thing that happens to you. Also, these are still purely my own ideas on this topic, so obviously take them as truth with a large grain of salt.

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