It's pretty easy to fall into a routine that doesn't work, but just seems to keep going on sheer momentum. It's like our lives can slide on the kitchen floor in their socks and just keep going until they hit another state.
But no matter how long it goes on, there comes a time when we dust ourselves off, ask Google where we are, and realize we shouldn't have done that.
Hopefully, that time will come for these people sooner rather than later.