Everyone plans the entry. Almost nobody plans the exit.
The job. The relationship. The city. The investment. Getting in gets all the attention. Getting out gets none.
Exit plans aren’t pessimistic. They’re liberating.
Your bank account taught you this, or it should have. You believe the money is yours. It’s only yours when there’s no crisis. When the currency hyperinflates or the bank runs happen, you learn the truth: you had permission to access their system, not ownership of your money.
By then, the exit is closed.
This pattern shows up everywhere. When you can leave, you ask whether you should stay. When leaving requires permission, you stop asking.
The paradox: people with the clearest exits often stay longest. Their commitment is choice, not trap.
Staying because you want to is freedom. Staying because you must is prison.