I once believed I was broken. Tired, distracted, restless. But the truth was harsher: I wasn’t broken, the system was.
Fiat incentives had trained me to live at a frantic pace, to consume instead of create, to chase dopamine over discipline. My calendar was full, but my life felt empty. Like many, I was medicating with convenience, processed food, endless scrolling, late nights under fluorescent light, thinking this was “normal.”
Then came the orange pill.
Bitcoin didn’t just change my portfolio. It changed my biology, my psychology, my very sense of time. Where fiat demanded instant gratification, Bitcoin rewarded patience. Where fiat created noise, Bitcoin restored signal. It was more than code; it was medicine.
Healing distorted incentives
Fiat medicine thrives on dependency. As I wrote in Brick by Brick:
“There’s no profit in a healthy person. And none in a dead one. The sweet spot is chronic dependency.”
We see it everywhere. Antidepressants handed out like candy. Supermarket aisles stacked with subsidized seed oils and sugar. Healthcare reduced to sickcare subscriptions.
In this environment, health isn’t the goal, compliance is. You are nudged, medicated, distracted, and kept just well enough to remain a customer.
Bitcoin flips that script. By lowering time preference, it rewards choices that compound health: eating real food, lifting heavy things, walking barefoot in the morning sun. The same mindset shift that helps you save in sats also helps you sleep deeper, think clearer, and eat with intention.
From Fiat Fog to Clarity
I remember deleting my social media apps, grounding barefoot at sunrise, and feeling the fog begin to lift. For the first time in years, I wasn’t drowning in notifications and stress. I was breathing again.
Bitcoin had rewired my incentives. It nudged me toward saving instead of speculating, nourishing instead of numbing, building instead of burning out.
As I put it in the book:
“Bitcoin restores signal. Fiat creates noise.”
That wasn’t just about economics. It was about my brain chemistry, my daily habits, and my mental health.
Bitcoin as Renaissance
This is why I call Bitcoin a renaissance, not just a revolution. It is more than a monetary upgrade, it’s a cultural reset.
Fiat culture tells us to chase shortcuts, hacks, and hype. Bitcoin culture invites us back to effort, patience, and proof-of-work.
I stopped hustling for fleeting highs and started cooking steak with my family. I swapped fast dopamine for slow strength. I began training my body with the same mindset I brought to my savings: small, consistent deposits that grow stronger over time.
You can’t build sovereignty on fiat food, fiat medicine, or fiat time. And you can’t fix your money without fixing your health.
Bitcoin heals both.
Let’s build your first brick
If you feel exhausted, inflamed, or distracted, you’re not broken. The system is. And the answer isn’t another pill. It’s sovereignty.
Start with money you can trust. Add food that nourishes instead of addicts. Reclaim attention from the feeds that steal it. Give yourself back to time itself.
That is the first brick. Once you lay it, the rest of the wall follows.
A Note on the Book
This article is drawn from my upcoming book, Brick by Brick: Building a Sovereign Life on Bitcoin. It weaves together money, health, data, attention, and energy into what I call the Sovereign Stack, a blueprint for opting out of fiat and reclaiming resilience.
The official release date is October 31, 2025. Pre-orders are open now: https://twentyone.life/brick-by-brick