Independence includes being able to leave situations you once depended on.

Being able to leave is a large part of what independence actually buys. A job, a living arrangement, a relationship you once relied on entirely. The capacity to walk away without catastrophe changes the whole texture of staying, because staying becomes something you are choosing daily rather than something you cannot avoid.

Ask what would happen if the thing you most depend on ended tomorrow. You are not planning to leave, you are checking how much of your staying is choice. If the answer is unsettling, build one piece of the exit, savings, a skill, another connection, and notice how it changes how you feel about being there.