Money can make a plan possible while leaving its emotional cost completely unpaid.

Funding removes one obstacle and gets mistaken for removing all of them. A move, a treatment, a separation, a family arrangement can each be affordable and still take everything else you have. Because the financial part is measurable, it takes up most of the discussion, and the rest goes unaccounted for. Being able to pay for something is not the same as being able to bear it.

When you plan something significant, write down what it will cost you that is not money: time, attention, relationships, recovery. Deciding in advance where that will come from is as practical as any budget.