Conservation Part 1: Cost and Effect

The funny thing about our universe is that it seems to operate on one simple principle: There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch (TANSTAAFL). Everything from the Second Law of Thermodynamics to basic Supply and Demand in Economics points to the fact that to get something, you must give something else. Hell, you can't even get knowledge for free (Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle. Or college tuition fees). If there truly is a just and fair dude who pulls the strings upstairs, he/she/it must be really clever: because he/she/it set up this universe to assess costs FOR him/her/it.

Of course, fairness is in the eye of the beholder. A girl, for example, may be willing to spend anywhere between $80-$120 on a pretty dress, which she will truthfully only wear a few times, while a guy would balk at spending that much money on any single article of clothing, yet shell out three times as much dough on a gaming system. In the end, the simple question is, "What's it worth to you?". In the former case, it may be the opportunity to hear people say "DAYUM!" for several weeks afterward. In the latter, hours and hours of carefree bliss ignoring the steady list of responsibilities compiling by the wayside.

Money, of course, isn't the only measure of worth. When making decisions, we naturally weigh the costs versus the rewards. Is going to college far away worth not seeing my high school friends everyday? Is taking the bus for free worth the time I would lose had I taken the BART for $2? Even when we feel constrained to make a decision, we are still weighing costs. The statement "I don't have a choice" is really shorthand for "The costs of the alternatives are so unacceptable that I don't even think about them"

The truly liberating moment for me came when I realized the existence of these alternatives. I felt true freedom when I stopped feeling like I have to do something. I don't have to skip out on hanging out with my friends: I can just get 2 hours of sleep that day while I do my homework until 6 AM. I don't have to finish this project before I start studying for the test: I just take a hit on my project grade and study a satisfactory amount for my test. With a little effort, you realize that you had ignored some other acceptable alternatives because you thought the obvious one had the only acceptable result. Slowly, your picture of what's acceptable and unacceptable grows more clear as you assess the consequences of each alternative thoroughly. The question then goes from "Is this the right decision or not?" to a question that is at once easier and harder to answer: "What was it worth?"

I ask myself this question everyday. Contrary to what it seems like, I am not second-guessing myself. Regret is the single most useless human emotion, as it is regressive. In the words of William Adama "You must live with the decisions you make" The decision is in the past, and all you can do is figure out where that has left you. Asking myself what it was worth gives me a better picture of my current situation: what did I get out of it? what did I have to give for it? All this assessment naturally leads to an answer for the next question: what do I do next? Instead of pining about all the different ways I could have done it better, I now assess all the ways to go forward from here. And that, my friends, is the only direction to go.

One Step At A Time