A short essay with Amy Winehouse as the soundtrack

Soundtrack (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJAfLE39ZZ8

Amy Winehouse sang about a love that was a drug. In 'Back to Black', she returns again and again to the same dark place: the void after the illusion breaks.

When I look at many small Bitcoin investors, I see the same pattern. They don’t call it love, they call it 'financial freedom'. But the emotional story is almost identical.

At the beginning, everything is bright. Green candles, easy wins, screenshots shared with friends. The feeling of being smarter than the rest of the world is addictive. You don’t just invest money, you invest your identity.

Then comes the crash.

The chart turns red. That 'freedom' that was supposed to liberate you now keeps you awake at night. You check the price 50 times a day. You can’t enjoy a walk, a conversation or even a coffee without thinking about the next move. The screen owns you.

This is not liberation. This is tyranny.

Some lose money. Others, even if they barely break even, lose something more important: their peace of mind. They go back to black inside. They don’t enjoy the present because they are chained to a digital number.

I write this from my small digital office, listening to Amy’s voice. I don’t have Bitcoin. I have my coffee, my jazz, my words and my slow, boring, solid reality. I prefer the quiet growth of real assets and the 100% safety of sleeping well.

If you feel trapped in the Bitcoin loop, maybe it’s time to ask yourself a brutal question: is this freedom, or is this just another addiction with better marketing?

Amy never got the recovery she deserved. But you still can. Turn off the screen. Come back to your life. Invest in things that don’t disappear in a crash: your skills, your relationships, your health, your peace.

If you like what you're reading, please leave me a tip.

With it, you help my small digital office keep creating independent essays like this one.

— Joan