i have much to lose in terms of opportunity costs. i wouldn't know what an opportunity cost was if not for economics lecture.
Keep learning economics. Economics, at its most stripped down, is simply about how to allocate scarce resources amongst unlimited options. It applies to far more than just spending money; it is one of the deepest areas of human knowledge, encompassing many aspects of diverse fields, such as biology, behavior, etc.
Now that you've learned about opportunity cost, a good follow-up would be to learn about
discounting the future .