Gemma Spake

I have to do my humble brag every time it comes up, but...

Opportunity cost is one of the concepts you learn like on day one of microeconomics and it's basically the value of the next best alternative.

You give up when you choose something and it's something that it costs you and it costs you in a way.

in the ways of disappointment, regret, but also in the ways that you could have taken all that energy and spent it on something that may have turned out better.

And that's a cost that you have to bear by choosing.

Every choice you make is also a set of choices you don't make.

And not making a choice is the most costly of all of those choices.

Every year you put off going back to university is a year you're not getting any closer to graduating.

Every month you put off starting that new exercise routine is another month that you just don't feel good about yourself.

You don't feel 100% in your body.

And those missed opportunities, they compound the way investments compound and get more expensive as well.

You know how I always think about it?

I always think about it when I'm doubting or thinking, do I do this thing or not?

I always think about the people who bought a house like back in the 90s and like that running joke of like, if only I had $20,000 back in the 90s, I could be able to afford a house.

And every year houses just get more and more expensive.

Investing in skills, investing in change right now is like buying a house in the 90s because in 30 years time, 40 years time, you're going to have this whole life that's been built upon an investment you made back then that is compounded and compounded and compounded.

otherwise if you don't do it yeah you don't have the house you also live with the knowledge that you could have you could have been the proud owner of the home you could have been the proud owner of a highly valued life if you've just taken the risk and embrace change and this right here is the final cost of not pursuing change it's the discomfort of self-betrayal of knowing on some level that

You know, you abandoned your own needs and values and a future version of you who now doesn't get to exist because of your resistance to things being different.

The thing is as well, we resist change now because we think the opportunity might linger and might come up later.

But over time, I think it does become harder to imagine future changes going any differently because right now you resisting change is building a track record of staying, of just accepting that this is how your life is.