No one has unlimited resources. This truth drives every decision we make and compels us to determine our priorities. If we don’t deliberately choose our priorities, they become evident through the decisions we make. This is most obvious in monetary terms because we can’t just buy everything we want.
There are many other aspects where this manifests too though. Time is an evident example because we also can’t do everything we want to do, so we have to prioritize. We have countless “to-do lists” that we can’t get to the end of and we’re always trying to balance work and family. Our priorities become clear in how we end up spending our time even when we don’t choose to spend our time that way. Our effort or energy is another good example. Maybe we want to do something but between the amount of time it will take, the effort we have to put toward it, and even the costs it might incur, we just decide that something is too “expensive.”
It can be helpful to frame this in terms of one-dimensional limitations. Maybe something costs more money than we have available or have access to; maybe it will literally take more time than we have; maybe we’re able to recognize that it’ll take too much work, and then we’ll have spent all of this effort and time for something that we can’t ultimately finish or at least not finish well. Often, really, we want to have done something. We project ourselves after having experienced the cost because we want the payoff but aren’t enthusiastic about what it will take to get there.
Similarly, another way to consider the concept is the idea of opportunity cost. By purchasing this thing or undertaking this effort, what will I not be able to do that I might have otherwise. This gets us closer to the true calculation we have to make, because honestly “most” things are within our reach; in other words, if we really want something, we can get it. Obviously there are some exceptions, but If there’s something you want to buy, you can channel all your funds toward it, finance it, borrow for it, rent or lease it, etc. If there’s something you want to do or experience, you can commit your time and focus to preparing for it. Sometimes we decide not to, and sometimes we make the decision by postponing the decision until it’s no longer an option, but ultimately we make the decision based on the fact that the return or the payoff doesn’t justify or merit the investment, whether financial, time, or effort.
So this is not exclusively a question of cost, it is also a question of value. The cost could be enormous, but if the value is also enormous it might very well justify the investment.