Cost is Different than Worth

I often find myself defending purchases made, whether it be to my Mom asking where I got something or to a friend asking how much something cost. But they fail to grasp what Steve Jobs talked about during his time at Apple. Cost is different than worth.

The cost of an iPad starts at $499. That's a lot of money, it's well over $500 when you add tax in, and for some people the cost is not worth it. But what about for others? What about for someone whose child has a learning disability? The iPad was one of the few pieces of technology in our age that gave families who have children with autism, aspergers, Down Syndrome and a few other disabilities a way to communicate with the world. Can you put a price on peace of mind? What about access? There have been several tablets that came into the market after the iPad but few offer the design and ease of use the iPad has. No one can compare to the App Store the iPad has. So the worth of the iPad depends greatly on how you're going to use it.

The same goes for any aspect of your life. My yoga mat is by Manduka. It's an amazing mat, the Black Mat PRO Limited Edition Black Sage. It's absolutely gorgeous, comes with a LIFETIME GUARANTEE and is the Maybach of Yoga Mats. But when friends heard how much I spent on it, they could not help but throw their two cents in. $100 for a yoga mat? I was declared mentally unstable. But the cost of the mat may be higher than what most who do not practice yoga would consider fair, the reality is it's not. The average mat is about $20 - $30. I've had one mat I got for $20 for a month before it cracked. Yoga isn't a fad, it isn't just a workout. It's 60 minutes that I get to give to myself, my future, my health and get out of my head and into my body.

So what is it worth? Well with a Lifetime Guarantee, thickness to stand on my head (when I get there), and the cost of other yoga mats, the worth far outweighs the cost. I've never understood when people buy a lesser quality product and then complain about it. You get what you pay for when you go cheap. But sometimes, you get more than what you pay for when you find a product whose cost is trivial compared to its worth. And what a product is worth, differs with each person.

So the fact that I have one Manduka Black Mat PRO, two eQua mat towels and one hand towel may look like a waste of money to somebody else, but for me it's an investment. A reminder to practice yoga, to get my dollar out of every item I purchase. Besides, it's more fun to stick to a lifestyle change when you find what motivates you.