Just a few months ago, if you’d have asked someone what “self-isolating” meant, you’d likely have gotten a blank stare. Maybe a few people would have said something silly like “hurting yourself.” Not correct according to the dictionary. But at a more philosophical level maybe not wholly inaccurate.
Fast-forward a bit, and billions around the world are currently self-isolating in our homes. Some of us haven’t left the house at all during this time. Others get outside just to take care of essential tasks like getting groceries or seeing a doctor. Yet others of us — including your humble blogger — go outside to get some fresh air and exercise and talk to the neighbors or friends, mindful of social distancing.
Home bound
Whichever of these groups we fall into, we’re taking — for the vast majority of us — drastic and unprecedented actions. Sure they’re for the greater good. But they go against the grain of human nature, we being social creatures after all.
As the world starts to return to normal, we’ll slowly but surely return to our old social ways. Some slowly. Some more rapidly. Others of us as fast as possible.
But many of us will be changed people. No small number of us will have a greater appreciation for close personal interaction — platonic or more intimate — and want to sate that need. Others will feel that they got cheated out of life for a while. I’m among that group. I didn’t move out to the Mountain West to be cooped up indoors for months after all.
The combination of how we’ve changed and how/if we return to our old ways will for a great many of us have long-term repercussions. Some will go full-on YOLO. Others will go full-on FIRE. Yet others will fall somewhere in between. And tho many will have been on that middle part of the spectrum all along, where exactly they fall on it may change.
Yo-yo YOLO
The full-on YOLO group I think will comprise many of the people suffering most (except for those truly ill, with COVID-19 or whatever other health issue) because of self-isolating. I suspect that while they feel that their current sacrificing is unquestionably the right thing to do, they also may have a newfound appreciation for/knowledge that life is short and can be taken away at any moment.
So they’ll embrace a joie de vivre attitude, damn the expense. And maybe the consequences. In moderation, this may not have huge financial, health or other consequences, tho it won’t be without them. Beyond moderation, and those consequences could be massively life altering.
Maybe the person was digging out of debt, and now is reversing course and digging a deeper hole. Or maybe the person was on the FIRE path pre-COVID-19. Now, maybe not so much. So yeah, maybe he or she gets to take that trip to Tahiti or buy that Ferrari today. But in exchange for the immediate thrills, that may mean working more years, maybe at a job he or she doesn’t like. I’m not passing judgment. Just examining the potential trade-offs.
FIREd up
The full-on FIRE crowd I suspect will comprise two groups of people: some who already were on the FIRE path and others who weren’t but now have a full appreciation for FIRE. For these people, I suspect that the financial effects of the pandemic COVID-19 shook many of them to their core and underscored how invaluable FI is. Some may long have been cruising along in their jobs — maybe even for decades — only to be let go as the economics of their employers keeping them on became objectively untenable. Others may have been successful gig workers whose work dried up and/or who found that not having health insurance during a pandemic is a lousy place to be in.
I suspect these people now will want to make life changes so that they never find themselves as vulnerable as they were during the crisis. Some will be extra-diligent in their efforts but also live a little during the pursuit of FIRE. Others will be all-consumed by a desire to reach FIRE ASAP, motivated by the idea that the bigger the sacrifice, the shorter the duration of the sacrifice will need to be. Again, I’m not passing judgment. Just examining the potential trade-offs.
Spectrumman
And then there’ll be the in-between crowd, in which I was and remain. When it comes to YOLO, my heart always has said yes, but my head typically says no. As a cerebral kinda guy, my head wins out far more often than not. In short, I’m more reflexively “denial” than reflexively YOLO.
That’s sometimes a rotten way to live. This self-isolation has made me pine for the joys in life that can’t be experienced in quarantine. Some are free or low cost. Others not so much. I suspect a lot of other FIRE chasers share my feelings and maybe now will be more likely than in the past to do things they otherwise wouldn’t have in The Before Times.
I’ll continue to grapple with the tension between YOLO and full-on FIRE. Maybe my break point will move. Maybe it won’t. Too hard to tell just yet. But I’m mindful of this. And I’m likely to start considering the tension dynamics more regularly, and to become less reflexively “denial,” even if I don’t become reflexively YOLO.
Dear Reader, wherever you fall, or will move to, on the YOLO vs. full-on FIRE spectrum, don’t go extreme “You Oughta Look Out.”
