The first time I went grocery shopping in Victoria, B.C., after moving to Canada, I thought I knew what I was doing: I had a list, a budget, and enough confidence to believe I knew what everything would cost. Instead, I stumbled upon the not-so-pleasant surprise that, in Canada, prices do not come with tax already included. I’m not good at math, but seriously, why though?

In fact, I soon discovered there were many “hidden costs” I had never considered, and they weren’t just money-related. I had to learn the unspoken rules of bus etiquette, remembering to say ‘thank you’ to the driver when getting off at my stop, and realizing I no longer had to run for my life while crossing the street because drivers actually stop in advance here. They were all unwritten Canadian rules everyone seemed to know—except me.

It turns out moving countries works like that. There are moments of uncertainty and discomfort, and a constant process of building and rebuilding yourself. And the learning curve is that all of this comes with a cost. The first hidden cost was realizing that starting over requires learning to trust yourself while also learning systems that everyone else seems to understand.

Before moving, I thought I understood the cost. I budgeted for tuition, rent, groceries, paperwork, and airfare. What I didn’t take into consideration were the hidden charges: missing my family on a random Tuesday, restarting routines from scratch, dreaming of a good Mexican spicy sauce, and constantly translating myself into a language that is not my first.

Like tax, none of these costs appeared on the original price tag.

And like tax, they weren’t optional.

At first, I found that frustrating. Surely someone could have included a warning label. A footnote. A handy immigration handbook outlining the emotional add-ons. But over time, I’ve started to see those hidden costs differently. They aren’t proof that I made the wrong decision. They are proof that every decision matters.

Because growth, it turns out, comes with additional charges (and yes, sometimes those charges are like extra guacamole—annoying, but worth it.)I used to believe that the goal was to avoid unexpected expenses at all costs. Now I think the point is learning what is worth paying for.

I’m still not entirely convinced that prices shouldn’t already include tax (I may never recover from this discovery). However, I am starting to accept that some of life’s most meaningful experiences arrive the same way: sometimes more expensive than expected, impossible to calculate in advance, but ultimately worth paying for.