Ever noticed the paradox? "Happiness is free" gets preached to ordinary folks working nine-to-five. But nobody's telling it to the guy sipping champagne on a superyacht, or the exec in business class, or the couple booking presidential suites. Are they miserable? Hardly.

Here's what's really happening: the system thrives on keeping you average. Feed you the narrative that "you don't need much to be happy," and suddenly your ambitions shrink. Your expectations? Downsized. Your reach? Shortened.

But once you see it—I mean really see it—the whole game changes. You stop accepting the consolation prize. You start asking why the rules apply differently depending on your bank balance. You realize happiness might be free, but options? Freedom? Access? Those always had a price tag.

And that's when everything shifts.