It’s a double edged sword. I saw an old childhood friend last weekend. We had a difference of opinion on something a few years back and had a falling out that severed our friendship. He was at one point what I would have considered my best friend. The conflict of opinion was related to lifestyle. He was trying to hang with and impress new work friends that were working in finance, while I was just trying to see my friend. Long story short, me and the finance bros weren’t on the same page. We lost contact shortly after. I see this estranged friend at a get together and as we are catching up he comments on my “work hard play hard lifestyle” and that he was “following all the experiences” that I had been sharing. It was a strange experience and had almost felt like to me I had lost a friend but gained a follower. If that makes any sense. I believe people secretly admire this kind of lifestyle but are to scared to pursue it themselves. They want to live it through others. We want to create stories and memories that people will share about us when we are on our deathbed. Going to do my best to describe and analyze this lifestyle.
On the one hand, we get to experience some unbelievable aspects of life that many living differently may never have the chance to. This is the good part. The rewards via the people we meet, places we go, and money we make produce an addictive feeling. Its hard to understand where others who are not living this way are coming from, and for them, it is quite hard to understand us. The pros and cons of each side balance each other perfectly. Its a beautiful thing really. The lifestyle crosses paths with a lot of money, alcohol and women. It almost seems like a train that consists of working as much as possible during the week, and getting off at the stop we call the weekend. The sheer amount of cash we make during the week fuels the train. The more money coming in, the faster the train speeds up. And the faster we start living. The more experiences we are able to afford drives us to work harder and harder. It turns into a cycle where we start acquiring so much currency, clothes, jewelry, friends and new experiences that if we tried to describe it to someone they would think were crazy.
On other hand, like I said, it takes a toll. First off, as I described in my example situation, it is very hard to maintain relationships with people. This is because its hard to relate to them. Most people cant understand the way we are living. Even if you are running a multi million dollar business, people will write us off because we cant relate to their boss yelling at them etc. This is just a fact. We are also always meeting new people which makes it hard to keep in touch with all of them. It is a very solitary lifestyle where we must rely heavily on ourselves to be the best we can be. We have to be comfortable living it up with ourselves sometimes. Because its just a matter of time before people join us. We also may miss out on typical after work drinks with co workers (if we have any to begin with). We can say goodbye to Saturday brunches. This is time that needs to be utilized better via working, sleeping, or fitness. Our body needs to be well rested and in good shape in order to handle the stresses this lifestyle comes with. So relationships and time are the most taxing aspects for sure.
At the end of the day the way were going to get the most our of our short time here is this way. We want to create stories and memories that people will share about us when we are on our deathbed. That is the goal for me at least. We are putting ourselves in a position to see and do things that we will remember for the rest of our lives. We are trading this for time and more people to do it with.
pier45 
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