What Does it 'Cost'?
Or, as I was often asked by the person I used to be married to – “How much did that cost?” – whatever it was this was the first question I was asked even before “What is it?” or “What is it for?”
You see, ‘most people’ have been trained and brought up to consider everything in terms of money and how much ‘money’’ they have to part with to acquire or achieve what they want.
The other common question is “Can we afford it?” or in other words do we have enough money to cover the ‘cost’ of whatever it might be we ‘want’ or need.
Here’s the thing, ‘most’ people focus not on the change they wish to make; whether that’s to have a cup of coffee, take a holiday, buy a car, or sign up for a coaching course to enhance their lifestyle, but on ‘what it will cost’ – the money. But the truth is we don’t really understand the meaning of ‘cost’.
‘Cost’ is something we have to give up, and yes, to achieve or acquire something we need or want we may have to ‘give up’ some money. But what exactly is ‘money’ and why are we so preoccupied with it?
‘Money’ is not worth anything in itself, it only has value when we use it to purchase something and where we make the ‘big mistake’ is to value whatever we want in terms of money and more particularly the amount of money we happen to have or be in possession of at the time – or perhaps the amount we are prepared to ‘borrow’ from someone else.
The question is to do with value, but what is that?
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You and I need to ask ourselves ‘how much’ we wish to acquire or achieve something – what it is ‘worth’ – without any consideration of the monetary ‘cost’ to us. What problem will it solve, what struggle will it relieve, what enlightenment will it bring, what burden will it ease, what joy will it give? These are the things you and I should be considering rather than any ‘sum or money’ involved.
Money is useless when it’s not being used, when it’s not circulating; and holding on to money in case you need it ‘for a rainy day’ only inhibits the flow of money (incidentally causing it to decrease in ‘value’).
Those who are reluctant to ‘spend’ money and hang on to it instead, stop the circulation. If no money is going out, none comes in. It’s one of the Laws of the Universe and if we don’t spend money (circulate it) we won’t get any more.
The more money you use, the more becomes available for you to use, but if we continue to believe money is only ‘spent’ or ‘used up’ then we’ll find ourselves without funds when we need them.
It’s not about ‘cost’, it’s about value, whether that be the acquisition of a ‘thing’ or the achievement of an objective which can also be making an investment by purchasing something which will increase in value by virtue of others wanting something in short supply, thus bringing in more money when you liquidate (sell) the asset you invested in.
Money is never ‘used up’, nothing ‘costs’ and provided we continue to circulate the stuff (money) which facilitates our ambitions it will continue to be available to us. What’s important is the value we place on what we use it for – what we ‘want’.