The devil you know
Just going to put my thoughts out there, but I promise I will also include a real update on Eric and our family in the midst of the cacophony. Many, many years ago (as in high school, so forgive me if anything I say is not totally accurate), I learned about unstable versus stable equilibria in systems governed by differential equations. Differential equations are essentially mathematical models of real-world continuous change (water dripping, stock markets shifting, telomeres decaying). In a system at stable equilibrium, like the average human body, a small nudge in one direction is slowly corrected back to the equilibrium by countering forces. You get sick with a cold, you get a fever, but your immune system responds, and your temperature goes back to 98.6. In an unstable equilibrium, even a small displacement causes the system to accelerate away from equilibrium and can ultimately result in resonance/oscillations around the equilibrium that ultimately break the system. Bef...