I always wondered what people meant when they’d say there is no such thing as a free lunch, but these days, I’m not so sure things are as digestible as they used to be. The energetic cost of things is what can be taxing to our immune system more than our bank account.
I remember going on holiday to Fiji last year and one of the reasons we had chosen our hotel, was because of an all you can eat buffet breakfast that was included.
Great thinking right? WRONG!
All you can eat buffet consisted of stale croissants, bread rolls, pastries, danishes and packaged juices that were full of sugar and wheat – 2 ingredients that I love, but alas don’t love me back. I brush the pain of unrequited love aside on a daily basis by limiting my intake.
The price seemed free, the cost post holiday? A series of migraines and digestion problems that I could have done without. Don’t get me started on the vile percolated coffee – my adrenals still haven’t forgiven me.
2 of my students from my chakra balance courses were discussing this with me the other day. They are a couple that were weighing the pros and cons of price vs cost. Both are corporate professionals with demanding jobs.
Her mum suggested that she save on the cost of a weekly cleaner, and offered to come in and ‘help’ with the household chores seeing as she was now retired. When I expressed my excitement at this offer of help, Jess quickly responded with “Yes, but the cost is just too high. Not only would she re arrange my entire household in the way she thought would be best, irrespective of my requests, I’d also have the added bonus of being constantly disempowered.
The cost of the weekly cleaner is an investment in my sanity, my self esteem and in maintaining healthy boundaries with my overbearing, yet well meaning mother.”
PRICE VS COST
Her husband went on to talk about his own conundrum regarding the cost vs price of life. His office needs to be repainted and his father, a retired painter himself has offered to come along and freshen the place up, free of charge of course.
At a time when the business is under slight financial stress after having bought one of his partners out, this seems like a gift from the Universe but alas..
“As big hearted as my dad is, he is also stubborn, righteous, bad tempered, politically incorrect, a heavy smoker and in complete denial of how much his health has deteriorated now that he’s pushing 70.
Just the thought of him stumbling into an office of 30 employees is enough to conjure up images of law suits piling up around my desk”
Well, I guess when you put it like that.. It reminds me of a friend that needed help when she first had a baby, yet that help ended up consisting of her family taking over all of her decision making. The added combination of a lack of sleep and healing from caesarian scars does not maketh a formula for gracious boundary setting, but rather explosive yelling matches.
It’s one of the things we weigh up when we decide where we want to live for instance. Are we prepared to pay more rent to live in the area where most of our friends are, or do we save on rent and mortgage repayments by moving closer to work or to family support?
Do we stay in a job that pays us significantly well so that we can have a comfortable lifestyle? But what if the work we do compromises our belief system and stunts our professional growth?
One of the 1:1 balance sessions I had this week with a client addressed whether he stays in a relationship with someone who does not want to be committed to him, despite him wanting a long term relationship.
Do our intentions change just because we happen to be lonely and someone comes along offering some of what we want, but not quite everything?
Life is inexplicable. It’s complex. It’s ever changing. What is right for us in one moment, won’t be right for us in the next. And those distractions that come our way? They’ll always be there. We just have to decide whether or not we get held up by them, or whether we stop and enjoy them on our journey.
What cost did you recently bear that was higher than the initial price? I’d love to hear it.