Expression for a situation which you’re forced to be in but would still choose over something else since you’ve gotten used to it with time [closed]

Question

For example: isolation and not having anyone in life is an issue many are forced to have in life at a time. They do crave for intimacy and lack of this monotonous lifestyle. However, even if they daydream about things being different, they don’t yet go out of their way to pursue something else in order to get out of the circumstances. They get used to this way of life and stay this way yet feeling forced and feeling like a victim.

Answer 1

An expression which is probably relevant in addressing this situation is

Better the devil you know [than the devil you don't].

From CED:

saying

​ said when you think it is wiser to deal with someone or something familiar, although you do not like him, her, or it, than to deal with someone or something you do not know that might be worse

It can also be considered

the lesser of two evils.

From The Farlex Dictionary of Idioms:

The less offensive of two undesirable options.

Both options are unpalatable, but the lesser of two evils, in this case, is selling the house.

Polls show that the candidate is not well-liked, but is viewed as the lesser of two evils.

It is possible that persons in such a condition just can't bring themselves to make a change per se; this is just inertia.

Answer 2

You've resigned yourself to your situation.

[Merriam-Webster]

1 : relegate, consign; especially : to give (oneself) over without resistance · resigned herself to her fate

Answer 3

Not quite a single word, but in psychology there is a behaviour like this called Learned Helplessness

Learned helplessness is behavior typical of an animal and occurs where the subject endures repeatedly painful or otherwise aversive stimuli which it is unable to escape or avoid. After such experience, the organism often fails to learn or accept "escape" or "avoidance" in new situations where such behavior would likely be effective.

Alternatively, a person exhibiting this type of behaviour might be described as having developed a victim mentality

Victim mentality is an acquired personality trait in which a person tends to recognize themselves as a victim of the negative actions of others, and to behave as if this were the case in the face of contrary evidence of such circumstances.

Answer 4

in a rut:

following a fixed (especially tedious or dreary) pattern of behaviour that is difficult to change

Example:

I suddenly realized one day that I'd been in a rut for years: same job, same flat, same friends, ...

Answer 5

What about inured?

Merriam-Webster gives the following definition:

to accustom to accept something undesirable: children inured to violence

For the situation described in your question, you could say

People who have become inured to isolation.

Answer 6

it is what it is idiom TFD

The situation, circumstance, or outcome has already happened or been decided or established, so it must be accepted even if it is undesirable.

Answer 7

You've become habitutated to the situation. "John had become habituated to being a bachelor."

habituate:

to make used to something: accustom

− Merriam-Webster

to accustom; make used (to)

− Collins

Make or become accustomed or used to something.

− Oxford Online Dictionaries

Answer 8

I think the person has

• quit; or,
• surrendered.

Both implying that they would have preferred something else but have accepted what is.

Answer 9

You could say someone has normalized the pain of their situation, in a case like that. Sadly, while this usage of "normalize" is definitely part of the (American) vernacular (as of 2018), I can't find a good dictionary reference that supports it. The closest thing I can find is a reference on Wikpedia which refers to normalization in the field of sociology as such:

Normalization refers to social processes through which ideas and actions come to be seen as 'normal' and become taken-for-granted or 'natural' in everyday life.

Same basic idea, but at the level of the individual, as opposed to "society at large".

Answer 10

The term "Stockholm Syndrome" might also apply here.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockholm_syndrome

It was originally used to describe the relationship during hostage situations, but is applied a bit more broadly these days.

Stockholm syndrome has also come to describe the reactions of some abuse victims beyond the context of kidnappings or hostage-taking. Actions and attitudes similar to those suffering from Stockholm Syndrome have also been found in victims of sexual abuse, human trafficking, discrimination, terror, and political oppression.

It explains the psychological coping mechanism under a bad situation, which turns into a dependency and reliance.

Answer 11

The expression:

Better the devil you know than the one you don't.

Source

Answer 12

Solace could also work, depending on the context. The noun would probably be better though, as in “comfort in grief.”

Answer 13

Lump it You can either like it or lump it