This word came to me at the beginning of the year. Unfettered. I sat with it. Rolled it around on my tongue. I love words and this one was special. Unfettered, what did it mean? I always thought it meant carefree. It brings about an image of a bird to my mind. Unfettered. I looked it up in the dictionary. “To be free from fetters.”

Fetter–noun – a chain or shackle placed on the feet.

Unfettered–verb (used with object) 1.to release from fetters. 2. to free from restraint; liberate.

Unfettered. I like it. I want to live it. Whatever shackles I have on my feet I want to be free from. I want to be unfettered. I decided this would be the word over me for 2011 and possibly, if I can live it for a year, can I then try for another and another? I would discover those things that had me bound and I would conquer them. I looked up the word, unfettered, in the bible. I used The Message version because I thought it would be my best shot of finding the word. I was successful. So I began the quest to find the fetters in my life.

Matthew 6:26 Look at the birds, free and unfettered, not tied down to a job description, careless in the care of God. And you count far more to him than birds.

I am fettered to my cell phone. Would the world fall apart if I left it at home? Well, I had no sooner asked that question then I left town for two days without a phone charger. God really is a comedian, you have to love it! Guess what? The cell phone died in 5 hours. That’s how often I’m on it. After that I was dead in the water. At first, I felt a panic, what if there was an emergency, my mind went crazy, what if something important happened to someone and I didn’t know about it immediately? That first day, it was weird, I kept looking for my phone because I carry it everywhere, not having it on my person was strange, not hearing the beep was hard.

The next day, I’d like to say I felt UNFETTERED from the phone, although truthfully, I was still somewhat anxious, after all, I run a business and need to be able to communicate. I have to admit there were some things I liked about not having a phone like, I didn’t have anyone changing my plans. I got to just do what I had to do UNFETTERED by the whims or necessities of others. I discovered I had no questions to answer, no news really is good news, I was disconnected and it felt sort of good and irresponsible. Really good and really irresponsible. Wow! Remember when you could go shopping and no one called you to find out when you’d be home? Remember when you could go to a movie and not be interrupted by a buzz? Remember the time when no one knew where you were and you could just do what you wanted? Yes, remember the days before cell phone where there wasn’t a chain around us? I have to admit I had moments of being unfettered and moments of panic. I fought the urge to buy a charger because I knew it was a test.

Since then, I’ve begun to leave the phone at home every so often. The sky hasn’t fallen, although my husband has said, “Why don’t you answer the phone when I call? What do you mean you left it at home you NEVER leave it at home. What if there was an emergency? Yeah, that’s true, I do know where you work.” The days of rolling my eyes at my mother because she has a cell phone and never has it on are gone. I kind of get it. I’ll keep you posted on the other fetters I have. Hopefully, it will cause you to assess your fetters, maybe you’ll decide to free yourself of some. Above all, maybe unfettered will become your word too. Wouldn’t that be cool?