Life is about Trade-offs?

On my previous trip back home, I had the pleasure of meeting up with a former lecturer in NUS who is now working at an investment bank as an educator. He was sharing with me about his thoughts on decision-making in life and how we actively seek to find a better alternative to our current status.
I didn't think too much about it till I went for an afternoon run today; my thoughts drifted and I started comparing the trade-offs coming here to London from Singapore.
Some trade-offs are easy to quantify: Taking a swim in an Olympic-sized outdoor pool under the nestling morning sun for SGD1 Vs Bumping into bodies in a quarter Olympic-sized heated indoor pool for GBP4. Singapore public pools wins hands down.
Other trade-offs are slightly difficult to quantify: Lying in Hyde Park under the warm summer sun and a cool nice breeze, watching stage one of the Tour de France. Taking nice long runs in the cool dry minty weather, allowing me to stay fresh and dry throughout the run. London doesn't feel so bad after all ..
However, there are some trade-offs which I can never put a price on: Watching my baby nephew grow up, the family dinners, having mum's hands around my shoulder when I am back home late at night for dinner..
Well I guess it is tough trying to work out which alternative is better and as I struggled up a long hard upslope, it suddenly came to me - there is no point trying to make sense of what I have missed out on, instead, focus on the present and make the best out of whatever decisions that I have made. With that, I gasped another mouthful of air and reached the top of that favourite spot of mine in Hampstead Heath.