What if more income is actually your biggest trap?
“I’m earning more than ever…
so why does life feel heavier, not lighter?”
A client said this to me once, and I’ve never forgotten it.
His income had climbed steadily over the years.
But so did everything else:
A nicer car.
A bigger place.
Better holidays.
More subscriptions and conveniences.
None of these were mistakes.
They were normal upgrades — the kind everyone around him was making too.
But slowly, something unexpected happened:
Each upgrade added comfort…
and a little more pressure.
A higher baseline.
More expectations.
Less room to slow down, change direction, or take a risk.
That’s when it clicked for him:
It wasn’t the spending.
It was the weight of the obligations that came with it.
And I’ve seen this pattern so many times:
The people who feel the most free
aren’t the highest earners —
they’re the ones who keep their lifestyle light enough to stay flexible.
A question for you:
What’s one upgrade you made that felt exciting at first…
but later felt heavier than you expected?