This has been a week of shitty happenings in the lives of people I know. It’s only Wednesday. There have been a string of serious health issues, and even one unexpected death of a family acquaintance. Each instance has caused a building anxiety in me. In all cases, the individuals affected are young people in their early-late 40s that seemed to be leading normal, healthy lives. Just like me.
Of course, these incidents cannot help but to make me wonder, “Am I next?”
Tonight, when I visited a sick friend in the hospital, none of this FIRE stuff really mattered. What mattered was my friend was laying there, without a clear diagnosis, suffering, and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it. Except give her chocolate. Which I did.
What now?
I think I just need to keep doing what I can do to support my friends and family when they need it. I will try to keep FIRE-ing fiercely, as it’s a means to an end I suppose. The sooner I achieve financial freedom, the sooner I can spend more time with loved ones. At the same time, I must prioritize those relationships today.
This balance is something I need to continue working on.
Reducing expenses requires constant effort and vigilance. I’m just not quite in the swing of tracking and saving religiously yet, although I’ve made big strides from just 2 months ago. Side hustles are also sucking time. I’ve been reading and learning more about passive income. This is something I need to aim for to allow my nest egg to grow. Creating passive income streams will avoid the situation where I end up working crazy hours on top of my day job.
I’d love to hear more about you handle the balance between work, spending time with your people, and working to achieve FIRE. Please tell me about it in the comments! In the meantime, I’m hoping for a better finish to the week.
You got this T! I think you handled it the best way anyone could have hoped to. There are things beyond reaching FIRE, and realizing that you cannot take your money with you when you’re gone will help achieve balance. Yes we are all on the journey to become financially independent, but reminders like the ones you got recently help us stay grounded. We must stay vigilant with staying on course, but it helps in the long run to take a break from it every once in a while! You are doing fine!!
You’re so right Sam! Thank you.