Hi there, not sure if anyone remembers me but I am just about to be done with my last round of chemo and am so excited to hopefully be free soon. (Check out my blog
https://thebucketliststory.wordpress.com)
So if there are any Mustachian cancer survivors out there, just wondering how cancer has affected your life so far, has it made any changes in your mind set and such. Or were you mustachian before you were diagnosed or maybe during or after your treatments.
For example me, 20 years old, Mustachian before diagnosis.
How has having cancer and going through treatments changed me?
-I am now obsessed with going FIRE/ER like right now as soon as possible. Before my diagnosis I thought "Hey why not try working for a corporation or something just to get what it feels like for a few years" now I couldn't even care less about working for other people.
-I am lucky to have an inheritance, maybe not as large as I could hope for but if my calculations are correct it is more than enough to live comfortable with, thus no reason why I 'have' to work.
-I interestingly want to increase my spending, albeit temporarily on experiences such as maybe a vacation several times a year rather than just one.
-I am quite eager to do a lot of things that I would not have done before cause I was busy with 'work', like do martial arts, learning cooking, join volunteering associations, something I knew I wanted to do after I ER, I just want to do now.
-I am suddenly less stingy with money. My expenses are ridiculously low and I never thought before that I was 'depriving' myself in any way or form, but now I see no reason not to go ahead and spend some money on things that I can enjoy like a vacation overseas or some activities.
-Suddenly more adventurous and less shy now, I kinda of want to do a little bit of everything.
I guess my new fondness and excitement was due to the sort of trauma that "I could have died and never having experienced these things' kind of mentality.
But I have to admit this was the huge push I needed to FIRE/ER because honestly I knew deep down I could do it already but I hesitated cause I wanted to know the experience of others in my age group (like working the job, struggling up the social ladder) but now I see that the situation is just so different now and basically time is precious. There is also the under lining fear that my cancer will return soon or I will develop a new cancer soon and I just can't afford to die without at least once doing/seeing these things.
So for others out there, how are things like for you?
Maybe you were already ER before your diagnosis?