A team member considered his latest move a sacrifice.

He had changed his job and moved away from his family to take up that job.

In his previous job, he was away from home most of the week and was paid a low salary. His new job means that he is away from home most of the time, but it provides him with a salary he’s looking for.

Considering the situation, he decided to work even more. It would allow him to earn more money than before, and as he described it, pay for the sacrifice of being away so much longer than before.

Seeing it as a sacrifice is making an abstraction of his initial choice. That is, from the assumption that it would be possible for him to earn the salary he aims for wherever he wants to live.

Considering his situation from the perspective of his desired revenue or the job he likes, his choice has been to give up living with his family most of the time. But acknowledging this point of view is too difficult for him; it would bear the risk of being seen as not loving his family enough.

Seeing himself as sacrificing himself for his family solved his dilemma.

It doesn’t necessarily make him a better person.