Income feels different when lifestyle stops automatically expanding to consume it.

The relationship changes when your standard of living stops rising automatically with income. Money you do not need immediately becomes optional, and optional money is where the sense of security comes from. It is not the amount that produces the feeling of ease; it is the gap between what arrives and what is already committed.

Fix your lifestyle at a level you would be comfortable with in a lean year. Everything above it becomes margin, and margin is what changes how the money feels.