"I heard an interview on the radio with a woman who worked with people in domestic abuse situations. She said most women who come to her for help go back to the situation they come out of, back to the man who abused them. When the interview asked why, the woman said that even though most women had family they could escape to and friends who would take them in, they returned to the abusive man because the situation, as bad as it might be, was familiar. People fear change, she said. Though their situations may be terrible, at least they have a sense of control; at least they know what to expect. Change presents a world of variables that are largely out of their control. And then the women said this: "The women in these situations are afraid to choose better story, because though their current situation might be bad, at least it's a bad story they are familiar with. So they stay.""

A passage from A Million Miles in a Thousand Years by Donald Miller