Money or freedom?

Money or freedom, that is one question I find myself asking myself recently, a question that surprisingly has shown me that maybe, just maybe, money isn't everything.

_{Photo by Akinori UEMURA}

Earlier today I was talking to my friend about how I've been thinking of going back home lately because of how expensive everything has become lately and how being at home would reduce all of the expenses I've been doing lately because I literally won't need to buy everything myself.

Thinking about it, I could already count in my head how much money I would be saving just by making that move, an idea that didn't look bad at all, but then there was something holding me back, the one thing I have over here but don't have there, the one thing that could just maybe be more valuable than money, my freedom.

You see, unlike over here where I get to be where ever I want to be whenever, it's not the same thing back home. Back home, there's a curfew, one that requires you to be home before a certain time or risk getting in trouble with my old man. And then there's the issue of having friends over, that's a no no because my dad enjoys his privacy and wouldn't want strangers, people he doesn't know coming into his home.

But you see, what's crazy about this things is that over here, I rarely go out or have friends over, so I should easily be able to adapt and follow these rules at home, but I've come to realize that just the fact that I know in my head that I can have anyone over and be anywhere at any time, is enough freedom on its own. Knowing I can do it but just doesn't want to, is a whole lot better than knowing I can't do it even though I have no plans of doing it.

Well, I had gone ahead to confide in a friend because I needed someone else's opinion on the issue and he had told me that if it was left to him, he had no plans of returning home to go stay with his family. He said he had left home to feed home and had no plans of returning empty-handed, then he had gone ahead to also point out the freedom part and how all of that would change for him if he decides to go back home.

Now, I really don't know what to do anymore because on one hand I hate all of this expenses I'm doing and would really enjoy someone else helping out every now and then and on the other hand, I love my freedom the way it is and wouldn't want to trade it for anything.. What do I do?