Embracing the philosophy of Freedom & Flourishing: my journey through LevelUp

by Anna Tymoshenko, CEO of Ukrainian Students for Freedom

In 2022, when Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, my world shifted overnight. Life itself was under attack. In that moment, I understood something profound: there must be one unshakable standard to which we hold ourselves — the value of life.

Nothing else makes sense without it. Life is the fundamental fact of reality and to honor it means more than surviving. It means living a life worthy of the sacrifices made by others, a life that creates value, inspires pride, and makes the world better. This realization set me on a search for philosophy.

With Ukrainian Students for Freedom and Ayn Rand Center Ukraine I had an opportunity to discover it far before 2022, but that year was life changing in a lot of meanings, and also in my professional journey. At the New Intellectuals Conference in Prague, April’22, I first encountered the Objective Standard Institute (further OSI). Since then OSI has been not only a source of knowledge, but a compass for flourishing, shaping my medical education, my activism and my vision for the future.

Philosophy in the midst of war

The war tested every aspect of human strength: physical, mental, moral. As a medical student I understood the urgency of protecting physical health. But I also came to see that survival requires mental resilience, clarity and principles. That is where philosophy became indispensable.

OSI’s philosophy of liberty and flourishing taught me that while life is the highest value, the way we live it matters just as much. We must live lives of purpose, independence and creativity: lives worth the struggle and sacrifice that others have given for us and giving us an opportunity to live.

From 2014 to today Ukraine has been forced to rediscover its moral foundations. Facing aggression, corruption and hardship, Ukrainians have had to choose: to be passive or to rise with integrity.

Here, I see the virtues that OSI emphasizes as urgently relevant:

Independence: refusing to surrender our judgment to propaganda, whether Russian or domestic, and raising a generation of Ukrainians who think for themselves.

Integrity: living by the same principles we defend on the battlefield. A free society cannot be built on compromise with corruption or cynicism.

Productiveness: building value in all areas of life, from entrepreneurship to medicine, even amid destruction. Ukrainians are rebuilding cities, businesses and culture because they know life demands creation.

Pride:  the courage to see one’s own worth and to claim a life worthy of dignity. For the young generation this means rejecting victimhood and embracing agency as the builders of a new Ukraine.

These virtues are not abstract. They are lived every day by Ukrainians who volunteer, who innovate, who risk everything for a better future. The philosophy of freedom affirms that these actions are not just patriotic, they are moral.

Lessons from LevelUp

At the 2025 LevelUp conference in Orlando, these insights crystallized. Three lessons stood out most clearly:

Be active-minded, not just open-minded: my former mentor, Craig Biddle emphasized that truth requires more than passive tolerance. It demands active questioning and critical thought. This has guided me in my activism teaching Ukrainians to challenge ideas, not simply accept them.

Creativity as a way of living: session on Walt Disney showed that creativity is not limited to art. It is the engine of progress in business, culture and life. Ukrainians today embody this when they invent solutions under fire or turn adversity into opportunity.

Strength and Independence: Thomas Walker-Wirth’s talk on independence reminded me that flourishing requires resilience. True freedom means not being hostage to circumstances, whether they are political, economic or personal.

Another session on startups, AI and entrepreneurship tied these lessons together. It reminded me that freedom is also economic. A nation cannot be free unless its citizens can create value, pursue ventures and become economically independent.

Leadership, risk and responsibility

Philosophy has changed the way I understand leadership. Where once I feared risk, I now see it as an opportunity. Risk means a chance to change something for the better. It is not always safe, but when we are confident in our skills and resilient enough to adapt, we can face setbacks and still create greater value.

This is what I teach in Ukraine — at events organized by Ukrainian Students for Freedom, Ayn Rand Centre Ukraine and others. Active-mindedness, independence and the courage to risk for something better: these are the lessons our young generation needs most.

What makes OSI unique is that it is not only a source of ideas but a platform for living them. Book clubs, courses, mentorship program — these have shaped me and many others into leaders capable of turning philosophy into action. My internship in 2023 was a milestone: it showed me that philosophy is not about abstraction, but about building a better world.

LevelUp adds to this by gathering people who are committed to flourishing. The community itself is proof of what is possible when freedom is lived, not just theorized.

Ukraine is at a crossroads. Our young generation has the chance to build not just a stronger nation, but a freer and more flourishing one. To do this, we must embrace philosophy, because without it, we risk inheriting the ideas of others, including those who would enslave us.

My journey with OSI since 2022 has prepared me to contribute to this future. The opportunities they are giving mean a lot not only for me personally, but also for Ukraine’s students, for the leaders I mentor, for the culture we are building. It will allow me to continue spreading the philosophy of Freedom — the philosophy that affirms life as the highest value and shows us how to live it with integrity, independence and pride. And I am incredibly grateful for them. I encourage you all to discover more by OSI at https://objectivestandard.org/, because just like for me, it can be life-changing for you. And you never know until you try, right?

Because Freedom is not only about surviving. It is about flourishing. And that is the life worth fighting for.