Sunk Cost, Stuck Self
- Keren Levi-Faran
- Oct 24, 2024
- 2 min read
Some parts of you were investments. That doesn’t mean you owe them forever.
The Price That’s Already Paid
You gave it years.
You gave it the weekends.
You gave it parts of yourself you didn’t know you were spending.
And now, even when it no longer fits or feels worth the weight, you still hesitate to leave.
Because it costs you so much.
And walking away feels like losing what can’t be returned.

The Fallacy That Feels Like Loyalty
In behavioral economics, it’s called the sunk cost fallacy:
The more we’ve invested in something, the harder it is to let go, even when it no longer serves us. Why?
Because we confuse:
Effort with alignment
History with obligation
Time with truth
We say: “I can’t leave now; I’ve come too far.”
But what if you’ve come far enough to know it’s time to change direction?
This Isn’t Just About Work or Love
We stay in:
Old roles
Outgrown dreams
Performances we once perfected
Versions of self that no longer feel like home
Not because they’re right but because we built them.
And we mistake architecture for belonging.
But maybe you don’t owe this version of you anything more.
Owing to Choosing
What am I holding onto only because I’ve already given it so much?
If I could separate effort from alignment, what would I release?
What would freedom look like if I didn’t need to justify it?
“The sunk-cost fallacy keeps people for too long in poor jobs, unhappy marriages, and unpromising research projects.”
Daniel Kahneman
You don’t need to stay just because you built it.
Just because it once held you, helped you, or cost you everything.
There is no refund for the life you’ve lived, but there is freedom in not asking the future to pay for it.
You are not walking away from the past.
You are walking toward a self who no longer needs to prove its worth.
You’re invited to pause where loyalty has become a habit.
Download the Emotional Sunk Cost practice and meet the place where you stop owing yourself more than you’ve already given.
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