That dinner you've been wanting to try. The shoes you'd been eyeing for six months. The trip you finally booked with your friends. You can afford every single one of them — but the moment your card goes through, something in you tightens. The joy leaks out before you even sit down.
Most of us have been trained to feel bad about enjoying our own money. Save more. Spend less. Be responsible. So we tighten up, and the things that were supposed to make life worth living start to feel like betrayals of who we're trying to become.

