The oldest and best known evil was ever more supportable than one that was new and untried.

A familiar difficulty is easier to carry than an unfamiliar one, even when the familiar one is worse. You know its shape, its hours, and what it takes from you. The new trouble has no measured edges yet, so your mind fills the space with everything it might be. That is why people stay in arrangements they could leave.

If you are choosing between a known hardship and an unknown change, write down what the known one actually costs you in a year. Compare that with the worst honest version of the change. Familiarity should not get a discount it has not earned.