Seeing everyone discussing the topic "Choice is greater than effort," I can't help but feel a bit emotional. In a person's life, it is actually full of various choices, and a single choice often determines which path you will take in the future, what kind of life you will live, and even who you will live with.

Yesterday, I went downstairs for a walk and passed by a real estate agent at the entrance of the community. The sign listed the listing prices for different house types in our neighborhood. My husband and I stood there looking for a while, and a sales agent from the agency approached us and started a few words.

He asked us which year we bought the house, how much we paid at the time, whether we plan to upgrade to a bigger house or consider selling.

We bought the house in 2020, in a community near the airport in Shenzhen. We started viewing houses intensively right after the pandemic ended, looked at more than a dozen houses over a month, and finally settled on this one.

The house viewing experience was particularly surreal. You had to make an appointment, and five or six groups of people would view the house at the same time. The atmosphere on-site was extremely heated; there was no room for bargaining. Being a step late felt like being left behind by the times. We were also anxious. Afraid that if we didn't buy now, we wouldn't be able to afford it later.

So, at the most emotional moment, we made the decision. A few months after purchasing, the value of this house increased by nearly 1 million yuan. At that time, we even secretly celebrated: luckily, we acted quickly. But as time went on, everything changed.

The house we bought for 5.8 million yuan, plus taxes and agency fees, totaled 6.1 million yuan; with a monthly mortgage of just over 20,000 yuan, we have been paying it off to this day, and have paid back over 1 million yuan. But now, looking at the market value, the house is only worth about 4 million yuan. If we sell now, after paying off the bank’s 2.6 million yuan loan, we would have only a few hundred thousand yuan left.

The 2 million yuan down payment back then, plus the mortgage over these years—almost all of it has evaporated.

Sometimes I often think:
If we hadn’t bought the house back then and had instead used that money to buy BTC, would life have been completely different?

Calmly thinking about it, it’s not really about the house, but about our misjudgment of the post-pandemic housing prices and the overall environment. This is also the price we pay for our past perceptions.

A choice that seemed "completely normal" at the time has now become a rigid expense of at least 19,000 yuan per month, like a rope tightly tied around us.

You dare not stop, nor dare to make mistakes.

Every day online, there are stories of "earning a few M" or "multiplying several times." Seeing too many makes you think the world is flying. But in real life, look around at the people—how many can consistently earn a few M a year? Most people are actually carrying heavy burdens.

Last night, I was chatting with my husband about @cz_. Starting a business at 40, selling a house, going all-in on Bitcoin.

Honestly, with our current situation, I wouldn’t dare to do that.

At first, I said he was gambling, but then I thought about it—actually, it’s not.

That’s not an impulsive decision driven by emotion, but based on his expertise, cognition, and judgment. He saw the trend clearly and dared to put his life on the line.

That is his choice.

And we are just continuing to pay the price for that choice back then. Some choices are not immediately right or wrong, but over time, the answer will gradually unfold in front of you.