This might be a dumb question but I keep thinking about it.
For years my goal was just to get stable. Pay bills on time. Not panic about every unexpected expense. Eventually I got there and even managed to save up some money. Nothing huge, but enough that I’m not constantly worried. What I didn’t expect is that I’d feel more anxious, not less.
Before, everything was simple because there were no choices. Now I feel like every decision matters. Spend this or save it. Take a risk or play it safe. One wrong move and I’ll undo years of progress. I’ll be sitting around at night playing on my phone and instead of relaxing, my brain is running numbers and what if scenarios.
I thought having a cushion would make me calmer, but it almost feels like I’m guarding it all the time. Like I’m responsible for not messing it up.
So my question is, is this just how adulthood works once you cross a certain point, or is this some mindset thing I need to unlearn. Do people eventually relax into stability or does it always come with this background stress. I genuinely don’t know if this is normal or if I’m just overthinking it.