Throughout my career in pharmacy school, as a pharmacist, and now on my journey for FIRE there has always been this recurring theme of knowing your WHY. This involves taking a hard look at what you value as a person and what drives you as an individual. For the most part I have always had a hard time determining my WHY.
Going back to pharmacy school everyone would always ask “why did you go to pharmacy school” or “why did you get into pharmacy”. Most of the time I would give the generic answers of “I wanted to help people” or “I was interested in science and math and pharmacy was the natural progression from there” or even “to make a good salary”. All of those are extremely valid answers and still ring true today, however they still don’t get at the heart of WHY. I still struggle at some points as to why I became a pharmacist. I made the decision to pursue pharmacy right out of high school and have stuck with it ever since. Now don’t get me wrong I truly do LOVE what I do. Learning how medications interact with the body is truly a fascinating concept and being able to interact with patients and other health care professionals is a rewarding part of being a pharmacist. To me, that still is not a true WHY. Fortunately, after finding the FIRE community, I can truly say that I have found my WHY for becoming a pharmacist: enhance my journey for FIRE. I will be forever grateful that I became a pharmacist because it has given me the tools necessary to find the FIRE community and be an active participant.
With all the struggle that came to my WHY of being a pharmacist, I have had the exact opposite reaction when it comes to my journey for FIRE. All the WHY questions being posed are extremely easy for me to answer. WHY did I start this journey? WHY do you want to retire early? WHY are you starting a blog? The answer to these questions are all very simple to explain.
I am doing all of this because I don’t want to be constrained, bogged down, or have someone else dictate what I can do. This is a journey of self-realization that there are more important things in life than a job. I want to document my journey for FIRE so I can remind myself and hopefully inspire others that becoming financially independent is a choice. Early retirement does not mean I am going to be completely stop working but I am going to be able to pursue some of my other passions in life. Luckily for me pharmacy is one of those passions but I may be able to explore pharmacy in a non-traditional sense once I achieve FIRE. The great thing about this journey is I can make it work for me and I hope to see you all on the other side of FIRE.
But for now, I am going to enjoy my time in the work force and try and save as much as I can to expedite my goal for FIRE.
Thanks
Steven | Rx for FIRE
Rx for FIRE 