You're 3.5x less free than you could be to do what you want with your life

We are commonly told we are free in the West. This is true to a large degree, yet it feels different as I stare out my office window.

When I mention this to my colleagues, they usually respond with, "Well, you are free to quit," or "You are free to find another job."

This is true, but it also somehow misses the point. I am not in the office because I want to, yet I am free not to be here. How can this be?

The reason is a commonly overlooked aspect of freedom: it can be meaningless.