Hey everyone! Hope you're all feeling empowered and living your truth! So here we are with another QOTW, and this week I want to dive into something that's been on my mind a lot lately - sovereignty. Not the political kind necessarily, though that's part of it, but the deeply personal kind. The kind that makes you feel like you're actually living YOUR life, not someone else's version of what your life should be.
I've been thinking about this word a lot - sovereignty - and how it gets thrown around in different contexts. But what does it actually look like in real life? Not in theory, not in some philosophical textbook, but in the messy, beautiful, complicated reality of being human in 2025.
So this week's question is: "What does sovereignty actually look like in your life?"
For me, sovereignty has become less about grand declarations and more about those small, daily choices that either honor who I really am or betray that deeper truth. It's about recognizing where I'm still giving my power away - to fear, to other people's expectations, to systems that don't serve me - and slowly, consciously taking it back.
But here's what I find interesting - true sovereignty isn't about becoming some isolated island of independence. I think there's this misconception that being sovereign means not needing anyone, not being influenced by anything outside yourself. But that's not what I see when I look at truly sovereign people.
The sovereign people I know are the ones who can engage with the world from a place of choice rather than compulsion. They can collaborate without losing themselves. They can listen to advice without automatically following it. They can be part of communities and relationships while still maintaining their own center.
It makes me think about all the ways we give our sovereignty away without even realizing it. How many of our daily decisions are actually our decisions? How often are we living from our authentic desires versus what we think we should want? How much of our energy goes to maintaining an image that isn't even really us?
And then there's the flip side - what happens when we start reclaiming that sovereignty? What does it feel like to make decisions from that centered place? How does it change our relationships, our work, our daily experience of being alive?
I'm curious about your experiences with this. Maybe you've had moments where you felt truly sovereign - where you were completely yourself, making choices that aligned with your deepest values, not swayed by external pressure. Or maybe you're in the process of figuring out what sovereignty means for you.
What does it look like to be sovereign in your family relationships? In your work? In how you spend your time and energy? In the face of social pressure or cultural expectations?
And here's something that really gets me thinking - how do we navigate sovereignty in our interconnected world? How do we honor our own autonomy while also being responsible members of our communities? How do we stand in our own truth while still being open to growth and change?
Maybe sovereignty isn't a destination but a practice. Maybe it's not about reaching some perfect state of independence but about developing the ongoing ability to choose consciously, to respond rather than react, to live from the inside out rather than the outside in.
Here's How to Share Your Perspective
Write your own post exploring "What does sovereignty actually look like in your life?" Let's dig into this together!
Posting Guidelines:
- Subscribe to the @ecotrain community to post
- Use the tags qotw and ecotrain when you post
- Minimum 600 words for upvotes (though feel free to go deeper!)
- Share the link to your post in the comments below so we can all learn from each other
- You have until next Monday August 18th to post your response
Your response can be written, video, art, poetry - however you want to express what sovereignty means to you! All perspectives are welcome.
I'll be reading every response and creating a tie-up post next week weaving together all the insights our community shares. These conversations always teach me so much about what it means to be human.
So let's explore this together - what does it actually look like to live as a sovereign being in today's world?
Looking forward to your thoughts,
@eco-alex 🚂💚
Ready to claim your sovereignty? The train is pulling into the station - hop aboard and share what authentic self-governance looks like in your world!
I do not feel i can respond to this QOTW.
I know too much about "sovereign man on the land" and other such projects. And the lengths you must go to, in order to step out of their system. Things like buying back your birth-certificate-bond. Disavowing, and asking for forgiveness from Social Security.
And, this doesn't really do anything. Because you have to explain every piece of this to every police officer you interact with, and they do not believe you.
The whole system is designed to keep you entrapped.
And then, because of much, much, childhood trauma, i do not deal well with any authority figures. Like, the building department, who are well below my IQ and demand that i jump through hoops for them. All they do is waste my time, take my money, and give me nothing.
And interactions with police officers is terrifying. Their MO is to torture me to death. And they believe that they are in the right, and do not need to consider my personal health.
So, i have never felt sovereign. I am always trying to find ways around the system that wants me dead. And, all i feel i can do is to wait for it to crumble.
Fair enough! although, this is,. to me, a (your) response....
all u say is correct of course..
as i said previously.. the only way is OUT.. u CAN leave and never go back .. then you are free.. but.. of course beholden to wherever you go!.. the more remote, the more free.. i think
Love this question and I just responded to it. Or rather I mused on my path to finding sovereignty in my own life and how I feel that I am helping others find their unique path toward it.
my response post can be found here on ecency as well as here.
Thanks for proposing this inspiring QOTW!
https://hive.blog/hive-123046/@builderofcastles/qotw-what-does-sovereignty-actually-look-like-distributed-manufacturing
I did figure out a tact for a good response to this qotw.
Sovereignty to me is being able to make all that you need yourself, without relying on the state.