There’s a fundamental bias that works against our undertaking any great journey or adventure or change or perceived risk and that is the risk/reward asymmetry. It is a simple fundamental law of how humans perceive change. It is derivative to the human bias of loss aversion (the tendency for losses to be felt more negatively than the same gains to be felt positively).
Because we are predisposed to fear the loss more, we can clearly see and feel the risks more than we can clearly feel or see the rewards. That part seems obvious and it is, but the really insidious part is that the rewards are almost always much more positive than expected (or than could have even be imagined previously. It’s hard to know how great or amazing something can be or fell until it’s achieved.).
For example, starting to exercise. Even though there’s not really a loss (sitting on the couch?), it’s even hard to get motivated to exercise sometimes. After having established an exercise routine/lifestyle, it can be amazing the difference felt both mentally and physically. This increase in health, energy, and well-being can scarcely be imagined previous to the healthy change. These benefits are often way beyond what could have been imagined before. There’s also always “hidden” or “invisible” benefits to changes that aren’t thought of before. Getting aligned with finances might also eliminate “money fights” or getting a physical routine can add new friends, strengthen existing relationships, or bring more passion to romances. Sometimes we don’t know what we’re going to get until we get it, and often, if we’re intentional, the benefits dramastically outweigh the effort input, or the perceived risk.
The good news here is that the risk/reward asymmetry means:
we will always be pleasantly surprised by how much better the rewards of our actions/changes than we expected.
Similarly, we will typically be surprised that the cost to acquire these things was less than expected, the sacrifice, almost always, less painful than expected.