The Weight of Financial Vigilance

THE CONFUSION THAT SHOULDN’T EXIST There is a particular kind of discomfort that doesn’t come

from failure. It comes from contradiction. You’re doing what you’re supposed to be doing.

You’re competent, informed, careful. You understand how money works — not

perfectly, but well enough. You can explain interest, trade-offs,

long-term planning. You’ve made mostly sensible choices. Nothing is on fire. And yet,

somewhere beneath the surface, you still feel broke. Not always in the numbers.

But in the body. It shows up as a quiet tension when you open your banking app.

As hesitation before purchases you can clearly afford. As the sense that stability is always