In our pursuit of creativity and self-actualization, we need to negotiate with reality.

It means that we might discover new ideas and inspiration but need to adjust them to what we can afford. In critical design, the notion of affordance refers to what an object allows its user to do; in everyday language, we think about affording things financially. I am referring to both of these and more. When we act on change, we need to afford the risk/opportunity of income, time, new language/confusion, and network.