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I spent $400 on a camera this week.
Didn’t even budget for it.
And while it might sound like an expensive impulse purchase (it was), there's more to it than that.
Since starting my YouTube channel last month, I’ve been thinking more about the possibility of producing some “cinematic vlogs.”
And so I thought to myself:
“What if I just did?”
So I logged onto Shopee (i.e. the “Amazon of Thailand”), scrolled through some cameras, and settled on the GoPro Hero 13 Black.
And I’ll be honest… I felt a little uneasy.
I'm at a point in my life where $400 isn't going to break me if the camera doesn’t produce any ROI, but it's still real money.
So what pushed me to do buy it?
Ever since I was in middle school, I’ve been curious about filmmaking. I even made a few short films during the pandemic of 2020.
And somehow, I got away from it. Started focusing on email marketing (something I also really enjoy, but very much plays a "functional bill-paying role" in my life) and put filmmaking on the back burner.
But sometimes the things you're curious about don't go away.
They just sit there, waiting.
You can either keep ignoring them, or you can finally see what happens if you don't.
Paul Millerd talks about this in The Pathless Path. The idea that following your curiosity matters more than optimizing every decision for money, and that the impractical things you're drawn to are worth paying attention to.
So earlier this week when I was considering the GoPro, I didn’t think about the purchase in terms of immediate payoff. I didn’t think about whether that $400 purchase for something unproven (my YouTube channel) made any financial sense.
I just decided to stop overthinking and follow my curiosity for once.
I bought the camera.
Maybe nothing comes from it. Maybe I film a few things, realize I have no idea what I'm doing, and it ends up collecting dust in my condo. Maybe it was a $400 mistake.
But at least I’ll know.
On the other hand (and this is what I'm betting on) maybe this camera becomes one of those decisions I look back on as a turning point. Maybe it's the first step toward something I can't quite see yet but know I need to pursue.
Maybe it’s better to “try and find out” than spend the rest of your life wondering what would have happened if you'd just tried.
Next week I'm taking the camera to Koh Phra Thong, one of Thailand's most remote islands, to film my first real cinematic vlog. Only 300 people live there, and the landscape looks more like Africa than Southeast Asia. Should be interesting.
I'll let you know how it turns out.
(And yes, Mom, there's cell service there. Don't worry 😂)
Recommended reading: If you're carrying around curiosity about something but keep talking yourself out of it, consider reading The Pathless Path by Paul Millerd (Affiliate link - at no extra cost to you).