The cost to quit

A friend of mine recently reminded me that there is always a cost to quitting something. And he is right. When we quit social media, we also quit staying in the loop, the feeling of being part of what everyone is doing, etc. I missed the Artemis launch because my feed wasn't reminding me that today was the day.

There's a cost to quitting a relationship, a job, even a bad habit. Smoking, after all, is a great icebreaker. "Hey, you smoke Marlboro Reds? Me too!"

While we focus on what we lose, we don't take into account what we gain.

The obvious benefit is improved mental or physical health, as demonstrated by the two examples above.

But I think the thing we gain the most is the psychic benefit of exercising agency. We get to choose what we allow into our lives. Further, increasing our locus of control in a world that feels constantly out of control. With enough belief that you can quit anything, you'll find it incredibly frustrating when things don't let go. (Try cancelling a Disney subscription and see what I am talking about.)

As always, there is a flip side to the cost. The benefit is: If you say no to this thing, what do you get to say yes to?