Tradeoffs

Carry no objective weight. They are merely an exchange of one thing for another: Five dollars for a coffee, leisure for labor, a familiar lifestyle for a foreign one. For value to emerge, tradeoffs require a subject—someone to interpret their value, because they do not intrinsically contain it. 

People have unique preferences, biologies, and seasons of life. We make tradeoffs because we value one thing more than another. The people we trade with, presumably, have an inverse set of respective values. This is what economies are built on: Mutually beneficial exchange. But economics extends beyond basic goods and services. There is an internal economy in which we are constant participants, yet rarely conscious of the ledger.

Just as we exchange items, so too can we exchange activities and lifestyles. We can trade the time that we typically use for leisure, for work, and we can trade our familiar lives at home, for something more foreign abroad. Once again, the individual gets to choose what is most valuable to them, but this time, they are trading with themselves.

The difficult part about trading with yourself, is that you already live a life that encompasses many things you value. It is unlike the traditional economy– there is no value gap to exploit. When we trade with ourselves, we have to give up some of our values. To fund a new ambition, we must liquidate an existing reality. Every change demands an equal measure of surrender.

Living in accordance with our values isn’t enough, because values inevitably collide. Not all priorities can sit at the top of the hierarchy. Which matter most? Which are we prepared to sacrifice? Deciding where you are willing to falter is just as critical as deciding where you intend to succeed.