Cow Alma and the Illusion of Freedom
Barcelona is full of free people.
They work from anywhere.
They decide for themselves.
Nothing ties them down.
Or so they say.
I see them in cafés in the morning.
Laptop.
AirPods.
Oat milk.
Some of them move to the beach later.
Screen open.
Slack too.
Apparently, freedom needs Wi-Fi.
The New Freedom Has No Visible Boundaries
People used to be tied to offices.
Now they are more flexible.
They can take their meetings from a café.
A terrace.
The beach.
Another country.
As long as the internet connection is stable.
I see people who work at lunchtime and exist at night.
People who say they could theoretically be anywhere at any time.
Theoretically is an astonishingly generous place.
In practice, many of them appear in the same café every morning.
They open the same programs.
Answer the same messages.
Wait for the same signals.
Freedom has changed its geography.
Not its structure.
Why Freedom Is Often Only Spatial
People talk a lot about freedom.
Usually they mean that nobody tells them which desk to sit at.
That is progress.
But a desk is only one form of constraint.
People used to be tied to places.
Now they are tied to expectations.
Expectations have the advantage that you cannot photograph them.
So they seem less real.
They aren't.
You can sit by the Mediterranean and still feel you urgently need to be somewhere else.
I consider this a remarkable human achievement.
The Difference Between Movement and Direction
People move around a lot.
They change cities.
Apartments.
Coworking spaces.
Cafés.
Some even change their personality a little.
The new country gets the more relaxed version.
The new year gets the more productive one.
The new job gets the version that is finally going to set boundaries.
Movement feels like change.
Sometimes it is.
But movement is no substitute for direction.
You can travel a very long way and still bring exactly the same thoughts with you.
Luggage isn't the only thing that flies.
What I've Learned About Freedom Since Becoming Part of It
I'm no longer in the barn.
I don't have a fixed place.
Nobody tells me which pasture I'm supposed to stand in today.
At first, this sounds excellent.
And mostly, it is.
But freedom is strange.
As soon as people have it, they start organising it.
Calendars.
Routines.
To-do lists.
Perhaps even a morning routine, so freedom doesn't get out of hand.
I've seen people plan their day off in more detail than they used to plan their working day.
08:00 Yoga.
09:00 Journaling.
10:00 Freedom.
Lunch afterwards.
Maybe People Aren't Looking for Freedom, but Permission
The longer I watch them, the less I believe people really want to be everywhere.
They just want to know that they could be.
That's different.
Maybe freedom is less about where you are.
And more about how much justification your decisions still require.
People explain surprisingly often why they are where they are.
Why they travel.
Why they stay.
Why they quit.
Why they don't.
As if some invisible authority had to approve their life decisions.
I'm still a cow.
I rarely explain why I'm standing somewhere.
Usually, I just stand there.
Perhaps that gives me a certain advantage.
Maybe freedom doesn't mean being able to be anywhere.
Maybe it means not having to be anywhere.
— Alma
FAQ – English
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Remote work creates freedom of place. People can work from home, a café, or another country. But changing location does not automatically change the structures of work. Deadlines, expectations, availability and routines travel remarkably well. Alma notices the contradiction: we can theoretically work from anywhere – yet somehow we keep opening the same apps wherever we go.
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In some ways, yes. Choosing where to work can provide genuine autonomy. But freedom is more than geography. Sitting by the Mediterranean while feeling permanently available may change the view without changing the underlying structure. Freedom has changed its geography. Not necessarily its structure.
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Freedom also means having to decide for yourself. Calendars, habits and routines quickly appear because they make an open day more manageable. The irony begins when organising freedom becomes another task to complete: 8:00 yoga. 9:00 journaling. 10:00 freedom. Lunch afterwards.
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Moving between cities, cafés and countries can offer independence and new perspectives. But movement does not automatically create direction or belonging. A new place may change the scenery without changing the questions you carry with you. You can travel remarkably far and still bring exactly the same thoughts along. Luggage, after all, isn't the only thing that flies.