Amy Reed
In movies, novels, and TV shows, it’s pretty easy to spot who’s a free spirit and who isn’t.
They normally have classic traits of being “away with the fairies” and “always destined for something more”.
But in reality, being a free spirit doesn’t always mean walking around barefoot all the time. Or living on a country farm, growing your own vegetables, and never working.
Because in the modern world, it’s a little harder to live life completely at peace with Planet Earth.
But that doesn’t mean you can’t still be free-spirited in today’s society.
In fact, there are many ways your free spirit can shine through in everyday life, even if it’s a busy one – living and working in a bustling city.
If you feel like there’s something different about you and the way you spend your days, you may have a classic free spirit.
Keep reading to learn the 8 behaviors of a classic free spirit that can help you reveal who you truly are and what you love about this world.
1) You like last-minute plans
When you’re a classic free spirit, being spontaneous is your middle name.
While you like to have a plan sometimes, you’re also happy to simply “go with the flow”.
If you’re going on a trip abroad, you’re happy to take each day as it comes and see where the vacation takes you.
With weekend plans, you know the venue you’re going to, but you’re always happy for plans to change at the last minute.
Ultimately, you enjoy being spontaneous and you’re always open to flexibility.
Because, while having a plan can be nice sometimes, there’s something freeing about waking up in the morning and letting life take you where you need to go.
2) You don’t mind going against the status quo
A classic sign of a free spirit is someone who doesn’t mind doing their own thing. In fact, they revel in it!
If everyone is wearing a certain type of jeans, but you find your old ones comfortable, you’ll wear them as often as you like.
And not because you want to be different. But because you do what you want to do in life, even if it’s not something everyone else does.
In school, people probably referred to you as quirky for your hobbies, interests, and fashion sense.
And your friends know you can’t be convinced otherwise if you say no to an event.
Because you do what you want to do – regardless of what “everyone else is doing”.
3) You make your own decisions
Another classic behavior of a free spirit is making your own decisions.
Everything you think, say, and do is your own choice.
While you’re happy to hear other people’s advice sometimes, you know what you want and you don’t like being told what to do.
If your friends invite you somewhere and you say no, they don’t even bother trying to convince you otherwise.
If someone tries to tell you that a job isn’t a good fit for you, you go for it anyway.
Because you make your own decisions, and your mind can’t be swayed by anyone or anything if it’s what you truly want.
4) You appreciate the simple things in life
I remember going on an all-women hiking trip once with people I met through a Facebook group.
One of the women wouldn’t stop looking at the sky.
Here I was checking out the views down below. But she was looking up. And the view above was all she could focus on and talk about.
Eventually, it made me look up, too.
Because she was right, the sky was totally beautiful. And ever since then, I always look up at the sky.
My camera roll is filled with hundreds of sunset and sky photos, because even on the greyest of days, the sky often still looks so beautiful.
If you often find yourself appreciating the little things in life like:
The way the clouds look, how the leaves arrange themselves on the floor, the rustle of the wind in the trees, or the birds tweeting outside your window…
…then you’re probably a bit of a free spirit yourself!
5) You’re open-minded and accept that everyone has different views
When you’re a classic free spirit, your automatic instinct is never to judge others.
While you may have your own opinions (many of them very strong), you fully accept that not everyone feels the same way you feel.
You’re known as the open-minded, easygoing friend – and people often come to you when they want to talk things through with someone who won’t judge.
6) You trust yourself fully
I remember watching a YouTuber once who said her method for remembering whether she’s done things is that she trusts “Me of the past”.
If she wakes up in the middle of the night worried if she left the stove on or did something wrong, she lets go of the worry almost immediately.
Because she trusts the organization skills of “Me of the past” – and therefore knows that whatever it is has already been done.
And that saying has always stuck with me. Because can you imagine being able to trust yourself so much that you don’t worry unnecessarily?
Well, if you have a free spirit, I guess you don’t have to imagine. Because you likely feel the same.
You trust yourself, your abilities, your skills, and your decisions so deeply that you never wake up in the middle of the night questioning yourself.
You don’t worry if you made the right choice about something or if something you thought went well didn’t really, the more you think about it.
Because the “you of the past” is capable and trustworthy.
7) You question everything
Being a classic free spirit at heart is a unique thing – and that uniqueness means you don’t often see things the way everyone else does.
If someone tells you about a conspiracy theory or something in the news, you often question the truth behind it all.
You know that everyone has their biases, especially the media, and you like to do your own research before deciding what’s fact.
You don’t just blindly accept what other people say is true.
You form your own opinion, even if it’s different from everyone else’s.
Like if a friend tells you how shocking it is that someone you know has done X, Y, and Z.
You won’t join in with everyone else in talking about how bad it is.
Instead, you’ll ask questions to understand more about the situation before you judge.
You’ll ask yourself and others whether there might be more to it than that.
And you’re not afraid to go against the general consensus if no one else agrees.
8) You love being in and around nature
According to experts, we all are a little biologically inclined to love being in nature.
A theory known as the “biophilia hypothesis” suggests that we are pre-determined to love nature because we evolved in it.
And as many studies have shown, being in nature reduces stress, anxiety, depression, anger, and sadness. It can even make you feel happier.
But when you’re a classic free spirit, you don’t need to be told to spend more time outside or that it’s good for your mental well-being.
Because you already know that if you don’t spend enough time in the great outdoors, you long for it.
Being cooped up inside for days on end is your idea of hell – and you feel an urge deep within you to get outside, listen to the trees, and breathe in the fresh air.
If you had to choose between going on a cruise and spending a few days in a forest cabin, you’d probably pick the forest cabin.
Because the idea of staying in an artificial environment compared with a completely natural one just doesn’t appeal to you.
Final thoughts
Sometimes, all it takes is recognizing who you truly are to find joy and peace in life.
When you know that you love camping trips in the forest, spontaneous plans with friends, and living by your own decisions, you can embrace who you really are deep down.
And when you know yourself better, it’s way easier to find people who share the same values as you.
Because, after all, building connections with others is important to you as a free spirit.
And while you’re happy spending time alone, you also love finding people who share your passion for nature, open-mindedness, and all the simple things in life.
