FREE Isn’t Always the Best Place to Start: FREE Things May Have a Downside

It’s true that some of the free things of life—including the gift of life itself—only have an upside. But many of the free things of life definitely have both an upside and a downside—an obvious or potential downside that we don’t usually consider, maybe because we think free things are completely FREE!

The truth is that FREE is not always the best place to start! FREE is sometimes deceptive because it drives our emotions to such a point that we become instantly convinced—even without clear or complete reason(s)—that the thing that is being offered for free is highly or more valuable than it really is.

Many people don’t usually weigh what FREE is made of (i.e., the quality of the content that is in FREE) because FREE makes them forget about any fear of losing. What do you stand to lose from accepting or taking something that’s free? Even if it appears you won’t lose anything at the moment, it’d be wise to reconsider and look deeper or further where you may find that the free item or freebie has a downside that can impede your progress or destroy you.

Therefore, as attractive or powerful as FREE is, it is important to note that FREE is not always the best place to start because “FREE” and “quality” likely go hand in hand; even items that are not FREE may have higher quality and much more to offer.

Different price tags are signals of different types of qualities, and FREE (which has no price tag) cannot always guarantee the best or high quality. Which car do you think would likely be better? The one with the highest price tag, or the one with the cheaper (or a much cheaper) price tag? The likely correct answer is the car that has the highest price tag.

When something is free, we may not see the importance of making any correlation between its price (FREE) and its quality. It may be important to get accustomed to making a correlation between price and quality because, generally, it is rare to find something that is free and—at the same time—high quality.

Therefore, if something is free, don’t always expect the quality to be as high as your emotions could wrongly assume; in fact, expect the quality to be lower, so that even if you find out eventually that it is lower, you’d be able to handle any disappointment, if any!

Even free things that have high quality can deter one’s progress: imagine the temptation that may overpower people who are on a diet, but still decide to overeat whenever they find themselves at a party with free snacks or surrounded by plenty of free food. What do they stand to gain by eating all types of high-quality free food, especially when they are on a necessary and important diet? On the other hand, what would they stand to lose if they don’t eat all types of high-quality free food when they are on a necessary and important diet? They stand to lose NOTHING. Yes, absolutely NOTHING!

Unless food is scarce in your part of the world—but it likely won’t if you’re on a diet—the only thing you’d gain by unnecessarily eating free things is just the unnecessary and thus empty free things themselves.

What to do when FREE comes calling—whenever you stand a chance to get something for free

Some free things can actually make you lose your dream, all your years of hard work, and possibly your future. For, in certain circumstances, what you think is free may actually end up stripping you of real freedom and growth. Some free things may actually drop you from a higher position to a lower or terrible position. In fact, some free things or freebies may even destroy you.

Therefore, any time you have a chance to get something for free, ask yourself whether you’d pay for the free item, even if it is being offered for free: would you pay for a free item if you’re going to use it to achieve something beneficial? I guess you would! But, if you won’t be using it to achieve something beneficial, then why accept or take it?

Although a free thing or freebie might help someone else, it might not help you. This calls for us to beware of the free things of life—either from Mother Nature or from our fellow human beings.

You won’t be missing out on anything if you don’t accept a freebie or purchase something that won’t add any value to your life. If you accept or purchase something that won’t add value to your life, then you may end up losing valuable things such as your focus, time, effort, etc. Therefore, from now on, whenever you see that something is free and you want to take or accept it, ask yourself whether you really need it. If you have to pay for it, would you still want it, or would you want it just because you don’t want to miss out on a freebie? The choice is yours!

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