One of the most important takeaways that I've encountered from self-development in almost any facet - whether it's financial, health, or relationships, is the safety we must sacrifice in the face of growth. I'll explain what I mean for each of the examples above:

Financial:

In the last few years I've become obsessed with macro-economics and what the fuck makes a currency 'valuable'. It becomes very clear upon diving deep into this rabbit hole that most (if not all) countries are living in a giant faith-driven Ponzi scheme. Some believe it to be the fault of Nixon severing the link to gold in 71, but this cycle of fiat currency devaluations has repeated thousands of times throughout history. I digress-

We have left it entirely in the hands of our beloved governments of the world to ensure our money is worth the same tomorrow as it is today. This is a fatal mistake, as federal entities have proven time and time again that they will NEVER be successful to fulfill this promise. In this sense, we have traded our responsibilities to manage money amongst ourselves in a privatized manner towards that of something more 'safe', where the mismanagement of our currencies can be far more detrimental to society overall. We are all in agreement that when we ask a central authority to manage our money supply, we are asking for the following: fewer financial crises and less deflationary/inflationary volatility, aka SAFETY.

Of course this idea extends to personal fiscal responsibility as well. Risk is always present when dealing with everyday scenarios involving money. This can be seen most in the instances of innovation and entrepreneurship. Putting your entire net worth and then some on the line can achieve results beyond wildest expectations, or it can deliver hardship like no other.

Health:

Over the course of this pandemic, we have seen the intense tradeoffs citizens have been forced to make between safety and freedom - the most controversial tradeoff of them all in my opinion. We the citizens are for the most part not health experts in the least. Some of us claim to be, but an even smaller percentage can actually be deemed experts in many regards. Therefore, it can be difficult to truly determine how severe a threat can be to our existence as a society, if not for the word alone of these public health experts. And while most are in agreement that these experts certainly might know a thing or two about a pandemic, they likely have zero understanding of political decisions and ramifications. The first example that comes to mind is the CDC's eviction moratorium. On the surface, this 'safety tradeoff' seems entirely without consequence, especially from the perspective of the tenant. But what renters will find is that due to the massive increase in risk landlords face when making inventory available is that prices will (and already have) skyrocket in the months following the end of the moratoriums.

As the intentions with these drastic measures may have been for a good cause, there's an old adage that rings true: "the road to hell is paved with good intentions"

Lastly, let's talk about Relationships:

My girlfriend of 3 years comes to me today, clearly upset about something. This thing has been bugging her for a while and it comes up in discussion from time to time. She is worried that we feel 'temporary'. There is no security in our relationship as my vibe shows that I can hop out at any time. Therefore, she claims that security may be something she needs from someone.

So I ponder it for a while and make the bold claim: In almost any relationship, you will trade security for attraction. A woman will almost certainly lose attraction for their male partner if it is certain he will stay forever. I have strong suspicions that this rings true of nearly all relationships, save for something of a more 'codependent' nature.

This post turned out to be far longer than I anticipated, so I'm glad you made it all the way to the end. The takeaway from all this, I believe, is that life comes with many tradeoffs; tradeoffs that seem harmless are likely not at all harmless, and the safety tradeoff is a strong barrier to achieving a higher level in many areas of life.