TL;DR (1): I am free because I came out swinging. I am free because I continue to fight.
I do like the witty responses, but I've been waiting to be asked this, sort of.
I'm financially stable, live on my own, and live responsibly. I'm more mature (So I've been told, take it with a grain of salt) than a lot of other people in my age range. So that's the first thing. Basically, I've been-legally-independent for, oh, 7 years.
That's Independence. The following is how I am free.
I've struggled with illnesses-physical and mental-all my life.
Regardless of paying my own bills and living on my own, moving on my own, and living life in a safe and responsible manner, my freedom comes from my years and years of therapy and fighting. Not going to bore you with the details, but physically I was in and out of different pediatric wards (Or whatever the teen equivalent is, as I got older), and then years and years of therapy/meds to get through both preexisting undiagnosed, and the aftermath, of being hospitalized. Apologies if that made no sense.
I know I'm getting long-winded, but it's beautiful to live life in a place where you know you are ok. Yes, I'm still working through the mental issues, because I view therapy as a form of maintenance (Although, not accessible for everyone-sadly) and stuff. But the physical illnesses confined me to a world where I was dependent on everyone. I don't want to be in that place any more, and I'm lucky to have received treatment and recovered. In the end, it was a showdown between accepting that I wasn't 'right' physically until I could receive treatment-or choosing to fight as hard as I could until I was lucky as hell to get 'fixed'.
I guess it's a combination of three things: Freedom to be a functioning adult in the traditional sense, freedom to reach and work to further reach a stable mental state, but the best is the freedom to be physically well, and not dependent on the way you are treated by those who can control you.
TL;DR: I am stronger than my past, I am a survivor. As messed up as it sounds, I'd go through it again-because that's why I am grateful to be free.