I don't know about realization, but I definitely belong in the second kind. I always search for new things to do and see and experience, even if my physical condition piles some obstacles, and the fact that I have a little kid tends to ground me a little.
I could myself could never really choose the steady path, since I'm simply unable to work in a "regular" kind of job, and therefore I have to be a freelancer, for all that is entailed in this definition, but my husband could have definitely sunk into that "comfort zone", with a good job in a golden cage. But he was unhappy, and so I supported him, he quit his job, and now we're both struggling freelancers - but probably much happier than we would have been otherwise. We tried to take the steady path, it was mind-numbing.