Nothing new here today - an ounce of prevention equals a pound of cure. So you tell me, if we all know this to be true, why's it so hard to choose the better payoff?

Part of the answer might come from childhood. This is where we learned to settle. Because we had to. And to do this, we learned to handle our feelings so they didn't overpower us.

Now as adults, does this previous coping mechanism come back to haunt us?