A few days ago, I heard a word called "the curse of time."

Hearing it made me break out in a cold sweat. This is the most precise form of murder in the adult world.
The core logic is simple but painfully accurate:
As we grow older, the cost of happiness skyrockets exponentially.
Think back to childhood, holding 100 yuan in your hand, eating a McDonald's meal, going to theme parks with your parents on weekends—those kinds of happiness could last all day. But now?
Even with 500 or even 5,000 yuan, can you still feel a ripple in your heart? Even if you indulge in a big meal, you might start worrying about work again as soon as you put down your chopsticks. Maybe accompanied by alcohol, caffeine, or sleeping pills...
At 15, saving up to buy a regular bicycle made you feel like a wind-like youth—that was the pride of youth;
At 30, driving a decent car, but it just feels like a means of transportation, and you might even envy others' luxury cars.
It's not that money has depreciated; it's that we ourselves have become more expensive, more numb.
Our hearts have been calloused by life, and our senses have become dull. To fill that ever-growing black hole of desire and stimulate this increasingly numb heart, we need to spend a hundred times more money than before.
And the more critical factor is cost-effectiveness.
Some elderly people, when they were young, were reluctant to spend on clothes and food, saving money for retirement. But the cruel reality is: a few tens of thousands of yuan in youth could let you travel halfway across China. The shock of seeing the ocean for the first time could last forty years or even become a lifelong spiritual pillar.
But by the time you're seventy, the same amount of money might only cover a few days in the hospital. By then, you might have no strength to walk, and even the most beautiful scenery will just be photos.
The scenery at 20 is the light in your eyes; at 70, it's just fleeting clouds.
Spending money on experiences in youth is the only investment that won't be diluted by inflation and will actually appreciate over time.
So, don't always store happiness in an intangible future. Financial management shouldn't just be about saving money; you also need to learn to allocate resources to the present. After all, the version of yourself who can still be happy about a flower or excited about a trip is more worth treating well than the future self with a heart as still as water.
Happiness has a shelf life. While your senses haven't fully dulled, go ahead and indulge.
欲买桂花同载酒终不似少年游