THE COST OF EXPOSURE
This past weekend, I had one of the most impactful days of my life up until this point.
Just a few days ago, I saw that one of my mentors and personal heroes was giving a talk at an event out-of-state that coming weekend on Saturday, November 9th. I was battling whether to go or not because of a few obligations I had already committed to, but I really felt in my heart that I needed to be there.
So, just three days before the event this past Saturday, I spent 3x as much money booking the flights to attend, and the same morning of the event, my flight ended up being extremely delayed to the point where I wasn’t even sure that I was going to be able to hear him speak. In that moment, I wondered why I went through the effort to even try and attend, but I still knew I was supposed to go.
I made it to the event just in time to hear him speak for that 30-minutes and it ended up being one of the best days of my life. Why?
Exposure.
Making a conscious effort to expose ourselves to the people we want to be, the places we want to live, and the friends that we want to have gives a sense of vision that we can’t get anywhere else - it’s not something that can be replicated.
When you’re in the same environment with the same people and the same thought processes, you have to make an effort to remove yourself and put yourself in a position to see what’s possible outside of your norm. And it will more often than not be an inconvenience. It will cost something.
It will look like spending money, spending time you feel like you don’t have, and spending effort when you may feel tired. In some sense it won’t ever be convenient, but that is the true cost of exposure. But what it gives in return is something we can’t put a price tag on.
If you have big dreams and big aspirations, never underestimate exposing yourself to what’s possible. And be willing to pay that price, whatever that looks like for you.
x LG Curry