Because there it was—right in front of me—the most controversial truth nobody wants to admit:
We use these ‘treats’ because we’re stressed, and we’re stressed because we’re broke, and we’re broke partly because of the treats.
It’s a loop.
And everyone is either too ashamed or too angry to talk about it without turning it into a war.
Later, at my desk, I couldn’t focus.
My brain kept replaying Frank’s line:
Are you a man or a mood?
I opened a spreadsheet like I was going to do something responsible.
Then I stared at it blankly like it was written in another language.
On my lunch break, I drove to the grocery store.
Not the fancy one near my office. The basic one.
I grabbed a basket and walked in with Frank’s voice in my head telling me to stop buying tired-fixes.
Eggs. Bread. Beans. Rice. Chicken.
Simple.
Adult.
I went to the egg section and froze.
The price was higher than I expected.
Not catastrophic. Not the apocalypse.
Just… higher.
Enough to make you swallow.
Enough to make you think, I shouldn’t be spending money at all.
I stood there staring at the eggs like they’d personally betrayed me.
And in that moment, I understood something that doesn’t show up in motivational speeches.