There’s no free lunch in life. However, what we can do is to consciously decide what we pay for and to fully enjoy it. In this way, the apparent cost really becomes no cost at all!
There’s no free lunch
The phrase there’s no free lunch suggests that every decision has a cost. While a particular path may allow a certain gain, there is very likely to also be something lost. Unless you value the thing that you gain so much that what you lose pales in comparison. Such that it becomes so insignificant to not feel like a cost.
This is of course a common theme for people wanting to leave traditional employment to do something on their own. For most, there is a big trade-off — the perceived security of a monthly wage versus having to generate business constantly. They never leave. But, for those who deeply value owning their time and being their own-boss, this is a price they will happily pay. The freedom of working on one’s own terms is so great for some that they will bear the financial uncertainty.
Enjoyment
Freedom has different sides to it too. There’s freedom in gaining general autonomy over your life. For example, not being required to be at a particular place, at a particular time, dressed in a particular way because your employer says so!
Then there’s the freedom to throw yourself into what you enjoy. To fully immerse yourself in something that you feel very passionately about. Something that can only happen with the freedom to manage your own time. This too can be a powerful motivator that makes the independent life even more appealing.
How you see things
Ultimately, the question of if there’s no free lunch depends on your frame of mind. It is about how you see things. The same situation may seem very costly to one, heavily discounted to another and almost free to yet another.
In the end, it all boils down to what you value. You must decide what is important to you.
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Harsha is a 1:1 coach and independent thinker based in London. He empowers people to find more clarity, confidence and focus in their lives — to cut through the noise, in a world so full of it. Harsha’s new book, Machine Ego: Tragedy of the Modern Mind, is now available in paperback and Kindle through Amazon.
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