We believe we get what we pay for.

That’s not how our modern systems work.

Not really.

We don’t get what we pay for.

We get what we are left with.

Said more accurately.

We get what we pay with.

We pay with our identity.

We pay with our focus.

We pay with our time.

Those are cheap.

What gets expensive is when

we pay with our agency,

for a sense of belonging.

The transaction isn’t dollars for value.

It’s attention for validation.

It’s anxiety for access.

It’s urgency for the illusion of progress.

We think we’re buying speed.

We’re selling stillness.

We think we’re buying clarity.

We’re outsourcing our capacity to think.

Everything is backwards.

The more we “opt in,”

the more the system cashes out.

Cashes us out.

We call it convenience.

We call it opportunity.

We call it success.

It might be all those things.

What we get

isn’t the point.

What we pay with

is.