Today’s generation has more broken hearts than sane souls. As early as our teens, we tend to delve too deep into complex matters like love and relationships and forget that there is a life beyond our love interests.
There is a pressing need for someone to address this issue at the earliest as we cannot afford the youth of the nation, wasting their precious energy on love. This is where economics can help us.
This article is not about the supply and demand theory or cost benefit analysis. It is just an attempt to demystify the most complex yet the most discussed subject – love.
In my economics class, our professor who is famous for his anecdotes, told us that cost is nothing but the sacrifice made. In every transaction or situation, we sacrifice something to get something in return or as the adage goes “Kuch paane ke liye, kuch khona padta hai”. The greater the sacrifice, the greater the cost and greater is the value of the thing we get in return for our sacrifice. But, what happens when there is an imbalance between the sacrifice and the benefit we get in its return?
This is where economics can help us understand our lives better. In the case of love, we go all the way to please our partners without even caring about our own lives. I remember, when I first fell in love, I used to be awake all night just because my girlfriend wanted to talk to me. This not just made me perform poorly in exams but also caused emotional fatigue. In this case, my sacrifice was greater than the reward I got in return.
In the second scenario when our sacrifice is meagre, but returns are extra ordinary, we tend to devalue the returns. As they say, we don’t value the things we get free of cost. This is because our sacrifice for that particular thing is zero and hence we don’t value it. The same happens with our partners.
When we get things done easily, we tend to take them for granted. I had a girlfriend who claimed to really love me and said she would do anything for me. I took her so lightly that I hurt her frequently and only realised her worth when she left. At that time even my tears didn’t have any value.
In simpler words, just like economics life is all about balance. If we could realise the true worth of our sacrifice and returns, we could make things less hurtful.
Life can be simpler if we give things the importance they deserve, not more and not less. So, now whenever you get hurt in love, try reflecting if your sacrifice was more than your return.