Most of us inherited our definition of “security” long before we chose it consciously.

Maybe it grew out of watching your parents juggle bills and promising yourself you’d never live that way.

Maybe it formed the first time you had to rely on someone who let you down, and you decided you’d never depend on anyone again.

Or maybe it’s been subtly reinforced over the years by promotions, steady paycheques, and the relief of being able to say, “I’m fine.”

Whatever its origin, that early definition of what security looks and feels like tends to settle in and harden.

It starts to guide decisions long after the circumstances that shaped it have changed. And you have to shake it loose if you want to get off that one-paycheque-away-from-disaster hamster wheel.