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Don’t Be a Victim of the Sunk Cost Fallacy
It seems like everybody has a friend who has been in a terrible relationship for years. Their partner cheats, doesn’t want to make long-term goals, or is brutally unkind.
Soon, your friend desperately wants children and marriage at 35, but her partner is nowhere near that point. And your friend swears she’s already put in too much time to leave.
This is an example of the ‘sunk cost fallacy’ many people fall prey to. You think you have already spent so much time on something worthwhile that it makes more sense to keep “working on things” than to start over. You think you’re making an investment, but you’re actually wasting time.
I’m not a Dr. Laura fan, but one of the best things I’ve heard her ask her callers is, “Between now and dead, how do you want to live your life?” Will you be happy to have been in your current relationship, in its current state, for the rest of your life?
Essentially, we need to think about the future without holding on to (yet acknowledging) the past. I often think of a quote from one of my favorite TV shows, Six Feet Under.
David: We’ve been clutching so desperately to the past, and for what?
Ruth: Because that’s when there was hope.
