Latest / The Curve / Out of The Blue: Lily’s Lesson on Health Insurance.
Transcript
- 0:00Okay, before we get into this episode, we just have a quick disclaimer.
- 0:05In this podcast, we discuss our own individual experiences with health insurance, but this
- 0:11is not intended to be a recommendation or financial advice if you are interested in actually
- 0:17getting health insurance, please seek appropriate advice from a qualified professional to
- 0:21suit your individual needs.
- 0:24Lily, we're so happy to have you here, and actually I was thinking before this podcast,
- 0:30you might be our youngest, cutest interview guest we've ever had, so thank you so much
- 0:36for being here with us.
- 0:38I'm pretty sure we've had a four-year-old.
- 0:40Have we?
- 0:41Oh, yeah, sorry.
- 0:42You get the cutest award?
- 0:43Not the youngest, yeah.
- 0:44I'll shake it.
- 0:45Thank you for having me.
- 0:48Now, we are talking to you today because, and do you know what, actually, Lily, this has
- 0:52been, this is, hmm, I feel like I'm almost embarrassed admitting this.
- 0:56I think I know what you're going to say.
- 0:58I have quite bad health anxiety, like I have this low level fear of like, I want to make
- 1:05sure that I have the right cover and things in place should something out of the blue happen.
- 1:12And so when this story came across, how does, as if we're like in an office, like stories
- 1:18or was I just all the time, we're like, yes, no, yes, no.
- 1:23Oh, we came across ideas.
- 1:24I thought, gosh, this really is like, it's such a good reminder and so, so, and so important
- 1:28to talk about.
- 1:29So let's perhaps, before we actually get into it, just set the scene, who you are, where
- 1:35you live, how old you are, like let's just paint the picture of, like, Lily foot, who
- 1:40are you?
- 1:41Who am I?
- 1:42That's my favourite icebreaker in the world.
- 1:44Thank you so much.
- 1:45Actually, the most intense question I've probably ever asked.
- 1:48Yeah.
- 1:49Who are you?
- 1:50Who am I?
- 1:51Okay, just like top line stats, you know, give us some bullet point.
- 1:54Okay, 26 Auckland born and bred still here.
- 1:58So I'm the National Auction Coordinator for Bayley's Real Estate, which I adore.
- 2:02Sounds impressive.
- 2:03Yeah.
- 2:04It's a really, really pompous title for nothing as intense as that.
- 2:08But I do love that your face kind of lights up when you talk about your work, which is
- 2:12kind of rare.
- 2:13A lot of people are not that proud or super excited by their job.
- 2:17You're probably just excited about saying, paying the title.
- 2:19I know the title.
- 2:20And will I get giggling because people do react and think, oh, so, okay.
- 2:26So something happened to you not that long ago.
- 2:29That was not only out of the blue, but also just like a pretty scary kind of a thing
- 2:35that most people hope never really ever happens.
- 2:39Can you just describe what kind of happened and what was going on for you at the time?
- 2:45Can you set the scene for like life work when you went in for what I assume was just
- 2:51like kind of a routine checkup and turned into something not particularly routine?
- 2:57Yeah.
- 2:58So the law in New Zealand is that you get a smear test when you were 25.
- 3:05However, before it was age 21.
- 3:08So I'm young for my year and the law changed 25 just before I turned 21.
- 3:14So all my friends had their first smear test really standard.
- 3:19No, no one had HPV.
- 3:21It was just not a thing.
- 3:22I didn't know anyone that had a positive smear test kind of anything like that.
- 3:27So when I got the letter last year saying, it's time.
- 3:30I was so relaxed, but I just thought, I don't know if this is fine, everyone has to do
- 3:35it.
- 3:36It's really fine.
- 3:37Did this while with my GP and it was positive for HPV?
- 3:42So if anyone who doesn't know what HPV is, can you just explain what that actually means,
- 3:47getting a positive test for that?
- 3:48So HPV is the, oh God, I hope I'm pronouncing right, the human peplum virus.
- 3:54So there are lots of different strains and we're actually vaccinated.
- 3:57I am well, I am vaccinated, but in New Zealand, it's a free vaccination against tons of
- 4:01strains.
- 4:02But for my, why we do smutests and what HPV can mean for women is that it has a high possibility
- 4:09HPV of turning into cancerous cells and we're test week like we screen in New Zealand
- 4:15at this age because it is the most treatable time.
- 4:20So it is it's genius to even do it and it's so needed and so great.
- 4:24It is just a shot of, couldn't it is positive?
- 4:27And I think that's the thing, right, like I get smutests all the time, but you do it because
- 4:32you're kind of supposed to and you're usually when you go along, like you said for a check
- 4:36out and you're like, oh, you haven't had this in a while, okay, you get it done.
- 4:38But like, yeah, what was the thought process once you got that positive test back?
- 4:47How did you feel like emotionally, like what was going through your head because you
- 4:52were so young and like you said, it is something that people just routinely get done and
- 4:56don't actually even think that it's going to be the outcome that you had.
- 5:01It was, I was just so overwhelmed.
- 5:05I went into almost autopilot and I don't really remember very much.
- 5:10I just sort of, I felt this immense overwhelm and I've never even broken a bone, I've never
- 5:17had an illness.
- 5:18I've kind of thought this doesn't happen to me, that's this happens to other people, but
- 5:23I'd never talked about HPV, I didn't know what it meant and then, you know, my GP's booking
- 5:29men for a gynecologist and saying, you need a treatment ASAP, we need to have biopsy.
- 5:34It was all, I just remember feeling immensely uneducated and overwhelmed.
- 5:40And there's a lot of, a lot of jargon as well, like even HPV and like Colin Uswick, like
- 5:45all of that, you just kind of like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
- 5:48I also really understand that feeling of overwhelmed Lily and also maybe locking it
- 5:53out.
- 5:54And we spoke about this off-mic and we'll get into it in more detail further into our
- 5:57chat.
- 5:58But I mean, as two diagnosed ADHD girls, like overwhelmed and the overthinking can mean,
- 6:07because you're in such a fight or flight, your memory almost completely goes, like if
- 6:11I think actually back to my childhood, I don't remember so much, like almost because
- 6:16my brain is constantly somewhere else.
- 6:19So my memory of what I've actually done is like really, really low.
- 6:23And it's so much worse when you're in high stress situation.
- 6:27So to be in a place where you can't like access your prefrontal cortex because you're
- 6:31actually in full-blown fight or flight is really hard to like, a process information,
- 6:37but be also like, kind of make the right decisions or choices, like obviously because
- 6:42you had health insurance, you didn't have to think about the financial implications.
- 6:46But when it came to like the next steps in having to go and like book things and watch,
- 6:54yeah, like what actually happened, like even if you don't really remember doing it in
- 6:58your own body, like what was the procedure from there?
- 7:01Because you actually had to, it was up to like $10,000 I think that you would have been
- 7:05out of pocket if you hadn't had health insurance.
- 7:07What was the stuff that would have had to be paid for and happened to you from like being
- 7:12diagnosed right through to like where you are now?
- 7:16Well from the get-go health insurance coverage, my amazing GP, and then she referred me
- 7:24straight to one of the top gynecologists in the country who was amazing and because I don't
- 7:33really remember booking the appointment or anything, but it was really quick.
- 7:38It was really so and after I had a positive HPV test and that is thanks to the health insurance.
- 7:43Yeah, so it was just essentially the biopsy, the collection of cells, you know, just to
- 7:48see if the HPV was abnormal or not.
- 7:52And was it?
- 7:53It was abnormal.
- 7:54Oh, shit.
- 7:55And so what did that mean?
- 7:56And so sorry, can we just backtrack like not to be super dramatic about it, but how do
- 8:00you get results for that?
- 8:01Was it like your GP called you, your gynecologist said you needed to come in, like how did it
- 8:05work?
- 8:06The gynecologist called me, so it wasn't like that normal lab test email or a text saying
- 8:12your results, she called me just to fully, she's incredible and incredibly well versed
- 8:18with specifically with people with ADHD, so she called me and made sure I was sitting
- 8:26down and explained, you know, that I have high grade abnormalities, which essentially
- 8:33means that the cells need to be removed, otherwise it's highly likely that I'll become cancerous.
- 8:40And just to, and then she talked to me through the next step, which would be getting a
- 8:44let's procedure to remove all the abnormal cells, what it would mean, kind of just talked
- 8:51to me through everything from start to finish and made sure I really got it.
- 8:55And then she amazingly followed up with an email knowing that I would have just sat there
- 9:00in panic.
- 9:01Having sort of listened and then it gone in one ear and out the other.
- 9:05Yeah, and like I even had the things you are anxious about, I was panicked that I wasn't
- 9:10asking the right questions during our talk, so her following up with an email afterwards
- 9:15completely ensured that every bit of information, I would, I fully comprehended it and was,
- 9:21I got my head around.
- 9:23How amazing that you had someone that knew how to deal with someone that's neurodiverse
- 9:27too, because I do feel like I know there's so many incredible doctors and like so many
- 9:32people that are just like insanely smart and good at their job, but I think like this
- 9:37crucial piece of being able to communicate with people and like knowing that everyone reacts
- 9:43in different ways and processes information differently, like to have someone that's
- 9:47able to speak to you in a way that is like really kind and keeping that in mind would
- 9:52have been huge.
- 9:54Oh yeah, it's huge and I'm navigating like the health system for the first time ever.
- 10:00You know, then if this has not happened, I was 25, I was 26 during the operation, so
- 10:05to have that, amazing.
- 10:08I would just love to understand a bit more about what actually happened in terms of like
- 10:13what did you have to go through, like we've sort of spoken about the initial smear and
- 10:18you found out that the cells were abnormal and then you had the thing that none of us
- 10:22can pronounce, which is removing the cells to see if they are pre-cancerous and they
- 10:27were.
- 10:28So then what happened from there, what procedures or treatment did you have to have done?
- 10:34So everything happens, like I've been saying everything was so quick, everything was so
- 10:39quick, but then this is where things go really, really fast.
- 10:43And as soon as the biopsy results showed that I had high grade abnormalities and you
- 10:50know, pre-cancerous, straight away I was booked into a procedure called a Let's Procedure
- 10:56which I've got it written down as a large loop excision of the transformation zone.
- 11:02So you're essentially your push, well in my experience I was put fully under and then
- 11:08they insert the large loop and they remove all cells with high grade abnormalities and
- 11:18I had quite a lot of cells removed around the area just to be prudent.
- 11:22Are you asleep for that?
- 11:24Is it like a fully sedated, it's so weird isn't it and then you count down and then all
- 11:30of a sudden you're like I'm not going to go, I'm not count and I'm like one and then
- 11:34I just wake up and it's done and I'm like, yeah it's so weird, it's such a bizarre feeling.
- 11:39So I woke up, I woke up so confused and my nose wouldn't stop itching and I kept crying
- 11:44to this poor gorgeous nurse at escort saying, you know what, why am I crying and my nose
- 11:50is so itchy and I've already got an up to nose, like I was just so, I don't know.
- 11:57You've got a view from the nose.
- 11:59This is must say some like, people must say and do some weird stuff when I come out
- 12:04and a student.
- 12:05There should be like almost like America's funniest home videos but like within the hospital
- 12:09edition, like just stuff that happens straight after, because there's funny, there's so much
- 12:13funny stuff from like your mouth being numb and just like, food just pouring down.
- 12:17So you're saying that's quite a intensive procedure.
- 12:20So what was the recovery like?
- 12:22It doesn't sound, I think it doesn't sound that intensive because it's such a small
- 12:26space, but God, it was about two weeks I was bed bound, which I've never done anything
- 12:32like that in my life, especially with ADHD.
- 12:34You could have been out a bit for two weeks.
- 12:37Well I could just like, I could just kind of hobble and get out, but you know, my ADHD
- 12:42is hyperactive, you know, hypermobile and hyperverbal, I'm not, I'm not a lie down person,
- 12:50I'm not a chiller.
- 12:51No way.
- 12:52I've never chilled in my life, I don't even know what that is, that's two weeks.
- 12:56Yeah, okay.
- 12:57And then I guess during that time, like that's a really good example of a pay issue, right?
- 13:02Like how did that work?
- 13:03Did you have to take two weeks off work?
- 13:05Was it sick leave?
- 13:06Was it paid annually?
- 13:08Like how did that work?
- 13:09I did a week of sick leave.
- 13:13Thank God, my job was amazing and my company's amazing and they've been so supportive
- 13:17and then I did a week working from home, which I really wish I could have had more leave
- 13:24and I think I should have, despite how hard it was being bedridden, but just I think
- 13:28it's so important to let yourself, you know, completely heal.
- 13:32Also you're taking painkillers, right?
- 13:33Like you're actually like, you should probably be horizontal for the time in which until
- 13:39you're not taking things like, um, ho-day or whatever.
- 13:42Yeah, I mean, I don't think you should be taking copious amounts of pain relief.
- 13:46And then trying to use your brain normally, I just, yeah, I think I wish I did take a bit
- 13:50more time as hard as it was.
- 13:52There's so important to be fully recovered.
- 13:55Oh my God, I'd be so scared of my emails.
- 13:57Oh, remember that time I had to go on coding and wear, oh my God, yeah.
- 14:00I was at work and I had serious bad luck.
- 14:02That was shorty, you should have taken time off.
- 14:04I was like, at work with sort of, and I had, my back was having spasms and I'd taken some
- 14:08coding and I just, I, all I typed into my notes.
- 14:12I don't know why I didn't even speak to you, but you were right next to me and I was like,
- 14:16I feel like I am.
- 14:18You headway to it.
- 14:19Yeah.
- 14:20Like I was honestly felt like I was, I was, I was like, I need to get out of here.
- 14:23Like it was, yeah.
- 14:24You need to be horizontal, everything and not trying to like do anything other than.
- 14:27So I can imagine, yeah, like thank goodness I had my own business.
- 14:30Well, I think income protection is really good.
- 14:33Like this is what we, this is what we've learned.
- 14:35One of the income protection things is like, I mean, I, I, you'd have to look into
- 14:38like the different types.
- 14:39And we actually do have an episode on this, which we could link in the show notes.
- 14:43Basically, there's heaps of different types, but there are some that when you're,
- 14:47when and if something like this happens, insurance can pay for your, like, so that
- 14:52you're not having to take paid or annual leave or worse, not take any recovery time
- 14:57because you can't afford to.
- 14:58Yeah.
- 14:59That's a real stress.
- 15:00Yeah.
- 15:01You definitely need to.
- 15:02But it is definitely something to consider because it's not just the healthy
- 15:07episode or the procedure.
- 15:08It's like it's also the recovery, the time of it, like if you had a family and children
- 15:13that they needed, they need to be talked after like there's all those ancillary kind of
- 15:17costs that you don't really think of either.
- 15:19Also therapy, like you might have wanted therapy or like needed to speak to someone about
- 15:24it because you were struggling with the processing part, you know, like all those things cost
- 15:28money.
- 15:29Yeah.
- 15:30Like it's so easy to forget.
- 15:31Like almost like you need the most resources where you're in the worst position, you
- 15:34know.
- 15:35Do you ever at any point when you're going to these GP, you're going to the gynecologist,
- 15:41you're having these procedures?
- 15:43Were you ever at a point where you were like, oh gosh, like how much is this going to
- 15:48cost me?
- 15:49How much am I going to be out of pocket?
- 15:50Like was the financial side of everything that was going on with you, health wise, ever
- 15:55a stress or were you kind of very comfortable and very confident that insurance was going
- 16:00to cover most of it?
- 16:01I guess at what point did you kind of sit down and go, okay, I just want to check the
- 16:04insurance does cover this?
- 16:06Yeah, I did really panic and I sat down with my mum who got me to get insurance and
- 16:13you know encouraged me and said, you have to start when you're young, you just never
- 16:17know, always prepare.
- 16:19Anyway, I sat down, read and thought, oh my God, thank God, okay, this covers for the gynecologist
- 16:24before I'd even had to buy up and send the results.
- 16:27And then I was relaxed, but on that reading, I realized how much it did cover.
- 16:32So at that point, I was comfortable to make decisions that were best for me without weighing
- 16:39up past.
- 16:41I think that is like so, so underrated because like even for myself, like I know there's
- 16:48things that I would go into a complete panic mode if something was wrong as well.
- 16:55And the last thing that I would need would be the stress of how am I going to pay for
- 16:58it.
- 16:59And now in the UK, like the ADHD diagnosis, I have a New Zealand doesn't transfer.
- 17:05So like if I want to get a repeat over here, it's like another 2,000 pounds or whatever.
- 17:10And I need that for my own functioning, but like I absolutely can't afford to be out
- 17:14of pocket that much.
- 17:15I think that when you can make decisions for your health and your wellbeing without even
- 17:20having to for a second, think about the financial implications, like that is amazing.
- 17:26And like my dad even, like he's had sinus issues as a whole life and he's finally been
- 17:31told he needs to get an operation, like it's so bad he can barely breathe or smell.
- 17:35And he has to wait for the public system to put him through, you know, because his health
- 17:39and his private health insurance, I think because he's had it for so long, it's a pre-existing
- 17:43condition or whatever.
- 17:44But the point is like I've seen people around me struggle with not having the right insurance
- 17:50and having to make decisions based on the financial side of things and I think you can
- 17:54just eliminate that.
- 17:56Well especially when things are very time critical, right, or time sensitive and like
- 18:00the sooner you get on top of them, the better.
- 18:02But I think I love like what you said, well, what your mum said about, you know, getting
- 18:06insurance when you're young, because my mother said the same thing.
- 18:10And when you're healthy and fit and you feel like, you know, you're never going to fall
- 18:16prey to a serious illness, it's really hard to comprehend.
- 18:19It's the same with owning anything, right?
- 18:21Like a house.
- 18:22No, but my house is a new build or it's like, you know, it's made with good quality materials.
- 18:29Like I don't need to necessarily get the most, you know, procedure insurance, insurance.
- 18:33But I think when you're younger, the procedure is trying to say just that.
- 18:37But it's just I, I remember mum telling me and I'm going, oh, just mum stop.
- 18:42But then I got it.
- 18:44I didn't even, I don't notice the payment going out.
- 18:48I don't notice, I don't notice it, but God did I need it and how amazing was it?
- 18:55You know, financially, not have to worry about it.
- 18:57Would have been tens of thousands of dollars all up the entire experience had I not.
- 19:02I had a situation where like I had, I actually had something crossed from when I was like a
- 19:06baby, my parents put me on it when I was like, like literally when I was born.
- 19:11Same.
- 19:11Yeah.
- 19:12And then I moved to Australia and I had to, I kept defer, kept deferring my payments
- 19:16because I was in Australia and I had media care and blah, blah, blah.
- 19:19And then it got past the five year mark or like past the year that you can keep
- 19:24deferring without keeping your original, like policy.
- 19:27Anyway, and then when I rejoined, it was just like so, it's so much more expensive
- 19:31because I hadn't done what my mum said.
- 19:34What would you say Lily to people in the early 20s?
- 19:38I just think I'm so fit, you know, this year alone, I've done two
- 19:44high rocks competitions and in between.
- 19:46What is that?
- 19:47I feel this lately alone.
- 19:48What is high rock?
- 19:49It's just like a sports you run and the new weeks, you do an ex a heterosexual size kind
- 19:54of thing.
- 19:55No way.
- 19:55I don't find it really genuine.
- 19:56I want to work so hard.
- 19:59Can you explain it?
- 20:00I want to know because it keeps coming up in conversation with people at high rocks.
- 20:03I'm like, what like, if you think of someone was like a marathon runner's plus cross
- 20:07fit extraordinary is plus like all these, yeah, it's like and varianting.
- 20:11Don't get it.
- 20:12So it's a gym class.
- 20:13No.
- 20:14So like you run one kilometer and then you do in a thousand meter, like a kilometer ski
- 20:21gig and then you run another kilometer.
- 20:23So you do eight exercises and eight kilometers in total and you try and do it as fast as
- 20:28you possibly can.
- 20:29Oh my God.
- 20:30So it's kind of like a class that you do it in a fitness class, right?
- 20:33No, no, it's a competition.
- 20:35It's like, it's like a, like they do it.
- 20:37Oh my God.
- 20:38Yeah.
- 20:39Yeah.
- 20:40I guess there are some cross-foot gyms that would probably simulate something quite
- 20:45like that.
- 20:46Yeah.
- 20:47So the point here is you could run an ultra marathon.
- 20:49Oh, yeah.
- 20:50I don't know about ultra marathon, but it's like this year alone, I've done two high
- 20:54rocks competitions and two at my own home, but I've done quite well in the midst of both
- 21:00of these.
- 21:02I had a positive HPV and then I had to have an operation because I had high grade
- 21:10abnormalities and people were saying words like pre-cancerists, you know, the big
- 21:15sea, it was terrifying and you just think, I so thought that this kind of stuff happens
- 21:21to other people.
- 21:23It doesn't happen to me.
- 21:24So it is so much better to be safe than sorry and I know how easy it is to avoid the
- 21:31avoidance that's avoid no anxiety, no nothing, but in the long run, it's just...
- 21:36I think one of the things that is a barrier for a lot of people when it comes to admin
- 21:42or...
- 21:43And it could be sort of health insurance or it could be sort of anything else, but like
- 21:47when something feels like, oh, this is going to take so much of my time or energy or
- 21:51it's, you just put it on the back burner.
- 21:53I think that a lot of the time people can feel, like, firstly, the task is much bigger
- 21:59than it is because actually, like...
- 22:01It's not that big of a task, but it can feel like if you have ADHD, it's not that big of
- 22:03a task.
- 22:04It can feel like if you have ADHD, like particularly, admin can feel overwhelming.
- 22:10So I think that from my experience with things like admin-related tasks that feel like a mountain,
- 22:19I have no idea where to start or how to climb or I forgot my walking poles.
- 22:24Something I find really, really helpful is asking a friend or a family member to sit down
- 22:28with me and say, hey, I'm really struggling with XYZ and if health insurance is something
- 22:34that you've been wanting to, but you actually haven't and you've perhaps put it off for
- 22:38a while, I just really think that that's been such a game changer for me.
- 22:42And I remember when I got health insurance and I was like, oh gosh, but I can't afford
- 22:47to remember what it was at the time, like, you're $30 or $40 a month, so I can't afford
- 22:51that.
- 22:52Like, I need that money.
- 22:53Like, I found that money very easily.
- 22:55Do you know what I mean?
- 22:56It was all just about adjusting my lifestyle and so for me, it was like, I can't afford
- 23:01it, but I actually could and I think, you know, perhaps it's just maybe re-looking at
- 23:07your priorities and there's different levels of cover, right?
- 23:11You know, some levels of cover can be quite expensive, but it depends what you're after
- 23:16and so, yeah, I think it's just about prioritising and for me, health insurance was definitely
- 23:23an essential.
- 23:24You know, Netflix, not so much an essential.
- 23:26That's a lot though.
- 23:27And when we talk about, like, how to budget and how to save and how to think about your
- 23:31wants and your needs and I think, for me anyway, the idea of looking after my health and
- 23:36my wellbeing as a need, it's not a want.
- 23:39And so when I look at what I have every month coming in, even though it's going to mean
- 23:44I have less than my wants, for me, that shouldn't be a negotiable because health is the most
- 23:52important thing.
- 23:53I care so much about my health and if I'm not then putting money towards prioritising,
- 23:58protecting and looking after that, it just doesn't align for me.
- 24:02I want to know Lily, how so many young people, when I say that I mean you, not us, we're
- 24:09young.
- 24:10We're not as young as we were, but anyway, I mean how old I was in the weekend, it was
- 24:14the first time I had to say 34 and I was like, holy shit, when I was in Greece and I was
- 24:21dancing on the club and it was so loud and this guy was like, how old are you?
- 24:27And I was like, 34 or something anyway.
- 24:30And he's like, he goes 24 and I was like, yep, and I was like, I was like, the one time
- 24:39I'm not going to try and correct you.
- 24:41Oh my gosh, but what I was going to do is, you know, like young people try, find it quite
- 24:46difficult, even I do, and it's like, find it difficult to prioritise, like living in
- 24:51the now and, you know, living life to the fullest, but also thinking about the future and making
- 24:58sure that you've got your financial foundations set up and all of that, like, how has that
- 25:03changed for you now, are you much more, you know, living in the moment and being present
- 25:08or is it, you know, you actually are much more focused on the future?
- 25:13You said a few questions because I think particularly for you, Lily, we've had a health
- 25:16scare, most people then go to living in the moment, but then also you're obviously quite
- 25:22aware that you're trying to buy property and I, yeah, I'm actually really keen to hear
- 25:26answer on that.
- 25:27That's a really good question.
- 25:28I think it's not only, it's like, you've also got, I've also got, you know, anxiety
- 25:33and ADHD, which neither are really in the moment.
- 25:37I'm either in the past or in the future, and then you've got a health scare which makes
- 25:42you want to live in the moment and everything is incredible, but then I've also 26 and society
- 25:49and well, I want to as well as telling me to get a house to settle down, how's your
- 25:54share, how's your investments, do you have this, do you have this?
- 25:57So it's a really, really funny mix.
- 26:00I think I am definitely living in the now slightly more than I was before just from this
- 26:08scare alone.
- 26:09It's a, it's such a good answer and I think I totally, yeah, I totally, totally, totally
- 26:14understand that.
- 26:15Like, because I flip flop between that, I haven't had a health scare, but I, I flip flop
- 26:20with that a lot in terms of, you know, if someone close to me has, or, you know, someone
- 26:25close to me, unfortunately, like passes away or something, it does jolt me sometimes
- 26:30to be like, why are we, and I can't believe I'm saying this with on a financial education
- 26:34platform, but, you know, why are we so hung up sometimes about like saving for a time
- 26:39and when it, you know, it might not even come.
- 26:42So like, it's really interesting that you bring that up because one of my sister's friends,
- 26:46like about a week ago, actually really tragically died and she, but she's been sick for a long
- 26:53time and she actually opted out of her like pension or KWC and so, but, you know, because
- 26:59she knew, because she had a health condition that she just was never going to get there
- 27:02and I, for the last week, have been making such a conscious effort.
- 27:06I actually didn't even know her, but like, I've been really trying to think of her and
- 27:09every time I think, like, I'm too tired to go for a run or, oh, I'm feeling lazy, I'm
- 27:14not going to make something healthy or, oh, I can't be bothered going to do this.
- 27:18I'm like, what a privilege, what a privilege to be here to be able to move your body,
- 27:23to be able to choose to exercise, to be able to actually prepare food for yourself.
- 27:26Like, I'm really, really trying because like you, Lily, I get terrible anxiety and I
- 27:31have to struggle so much to live in the now, but I think if you find the things that can
- 27:36bring you back or like anchors that can be reminders of like how important it is to
- 27:41live your life while also being sensible and putting the safety nets in place should
- 27:45you need them.
- 27:47It's a really hard balance, but I think that it is a balance, right?
- 27:50It's got to be a balance.
- 27:52If you spend too far one way, it's not good.
- 27:54If you spend too far the other way, it's not good, but it's also not punishing yourself
- 27:57if you do for a period of time.
- 27:59100%, but just thinking about it, it's not so much, I think that this has taught me
- 28:06to be particularly present or particularly, you know, play and heavy, it's that really
- 28:11good balance, but also it's, this sounds so lame, but it's like I've stopped swearing
- 28:17the small stuff as much, you know, if something happens, it's like something minor, it's
- 28:24just kind of like, oh, that's life, like honestly worse has happened or could happen.
- 28:30And I think that's probably the coolest takeaway is that mindset shift.
- 28:34There's like a bit of sweetness to this, right?
- 28:36Like all three of us are healthy and here and have like hopefully a huge amount of our
- 28:42life to live and I think like two things can be true, like we can know that and be grateful
- 28:47and we can, if it works for us, we want to put things in place, whether it's in
- 28:51income protection or health insurance or, you know, have an emergency fund, should something
- 28:56go wrong.
- 28:57Like you can do both things and I think that that is what I'm so grateful for with the
- 29:01curfers that I think if you put stuff in place, you can more or less set and forget, like
- 29:08it doesn't have to be this like constant obsession of like, I'm going to check my policy
- 29:13or I'm going to check this.
- 29:14It's like you can just know in the back of your mind, should something out of the blue
- 29:19and awful happen to me.
- 29:20I at least know that I don't have to worry about it financially.
- 29:24And I could just reel in the emotions and like the mental, you know, I can focus on
- 29:31getting better and the things that matters.
- 29:33The things that matters, we need time with family and the support and all of that.
- 29:37I want to just finish on like, what would you have done differently?
- 29:41You know, if you had to go through all of this again, is there anything that you would
- 29:45do differently, like probably apart from getting tested earlier, although, you know, you
- 29:50still were very young when you got tested, but like, is there anything else you would have
- 29:54done differently?
- 29:55It's quite hard to think of something different because I do feel really privileged and really
- 30:00lucky for my experience because as horrific as it was, I was dealt with, you know, I dealt
- 30:05with the most amazing specialists and people and people who understood me and wanted to
- 30:10work with me.
- 30:11And I think, I think I'm doing what I wish I would have done before and just talking
- 30:17about it.
- 30:18I was so ashamed almost to be positive with it when it's such a prevalent and common
- 30:25thing.
- 30:26And I didn't really tell many people and I really wish, I think if I had to do it all
- 30:29again, would be just talk about it with a few more people.
- 30:34What made you feel ashamed, Lully, like what part of it?
- 30:37I just think because I didn't know anyone that had it and because of, you know, the
- 30:42area of where it happens in your service is such kind of a personal private part.
- 30:48And it just, you know, it's, it just wasn't really talked about and I know it's so stupid
- 30:54to feel ashamed and why and it doesn't mean, doesn't mean anything.
- 30:57And it's not until I started talking about it saying, you know, I've had an operation.
- 31:02What is it?
- 31:03That you find out, oh, God, they've had it too.
- 31:06Well, they know, or they know, and I just, I think that's the one thing I would change.
- 31:10The really just talking about it more and leaning, leaning on the village, the village
- 31:16just a bit more.
- 31:17I think that's such a, it's such a brave thing to change that, you know, like in hindsight,
- 31:21you realize you wish you talked about it more and here you are talking about it more.
- 31:24So like, I'm sure there's a lot of people who are listening who, yeah, will have really
- 31:30like learnt from your experience and hopefully feel less alone if it's something that they're
- 31:34going through right now.
- 31:35Gosh.
- 31:36I feel like we all need to have a group hug or something.
- 31:39Yeah, they're better to power out.
- 31:41But I'm really happy, Lili, that like you're okay and you're now healthy and that, you
- 31:46know, you're on the journey to buy a house and it sounds like life is other than what
- 31:51was a less than ideal.
- 31:52We'll get you back on the podcast and talk about that life journey.
- 31:55Yeah.
- 31:56But now I can.
- 31:57Yeah.
- 31:58Because of everything I can have the most epic life ever, you know, you're all wonderful.
- 32:03Yeah.
- 32:04I'm so glad we met you.
- 32:05Thank you so much for coming on.
- 32:06Thank you for having me and letting me talk about this.
- 32:08I hope so.
- 32:09Oh, I feel emotional.
- 32:10I feel like.
- 32:11I'm just so glad you're okay and I also feel like there's just so many stories you hear
- 32:16where people aren't and they haven't had the things in place and it's just like it's
- 32:20nice to speak to someone where like the story is like a happy ending and not.
- 32:24It's just so much sad shit happening in the world at the moment and I think I sometimes
- 32:28feel overwhelmed.
- 32:29You're going to sit me after, but no, I know it's cool to talk about this in a positive
- 32:34light.
- 32:35No, thank you so much.
- 32:36I think a lot of people listening would have will hopefully go away and realize and look
- 32:43at their financial situation and, you know, see if insurance is right for them and that's
- 32:47all we can hope for people to get out of this podcast is that, you know, that they actually
- 32:52take their health seriously and, you know, if only got one body that we live in.
- 32:56And invest in it, right?
- 32:57And invest in it.
- 32:58Yeah.
- 32:59We invest in so many other things.
- 33:00Your health is something you can invest in too, like with your time and your energy and
- 33:04your resources.
- 33:05Health as well.
- 33:06Totally.
- 33:07Thank you, Lily.
- 33:08Oh, man.
- 33:09Thank you so much, Lily.
- 33:10Thank you so much for listening to Raisin the Curve.
- 33:12These conversations are designed to teach you everything you need to know to be better
- 33:15with your money, saving, to investing, to talking with your friends about your salaries
- 33:19or that stuff.
- 33:20If you like what you heard, we would love if you could please hit subscribe, wherever
- 33:23you're listening and leave a comment, let us know what you thought about the episode.
- 33:27And it only takes one second and it would really make our week a month, our year.
- 33:31Yeah.
- 33:32Yeah.
- 33:33So please do it.
- 33:34Okay.
- 33:35Okay.
- 33:36Quickly.
- 33:37The Curve was created to empower and educate you about investing, but we are not financial
- 33:40advisors.
- 33:41Our platform exists for educational purposes only and it doesn't provide personalized investing
- 33:46advice for your individual needs and should not be relied upon to make an investment or
- 33:50financial decision.
- 33:51And always remember to do your own research before making any investment or financial
- 33:55decision.
- 33:56We're here for any knowledge and support you need, but the final call is always yours.
- 33:59And thanks for being here.
- 34:01You got this.
- 34:02Yeah, we know you got this.