If you found that you had only 6 months to live, but wouldn’t look ill until near the end, how long would you wait to tell family? Friends? Acquaintances?
This feels like a spin-off of last week’s question…
I think, in this situation, I’d tell my closest family and friends right away. Because I’d want their support, even if I planned to continue trying to live life as normal for as long as I could. I think I’d keep my illness from most coworkers, maybe only informing my supervisors, if only so they could begin the hiring process for my eventual replacement.
I’d probably write a blog post about it, but leave instructions for a friend to post it once I’m gone. I imagine my passing would be the kind of thing that people on social media would discover as a surprise after the fact. I actually faced that kind of discovery last year when I found out that an old friend from high school had passed away. I had no idea that he had even been ill.
But what would you do? Would you want people to know about your terminal illness? Or would you play things close to the chest for as long as possible? Let me know what you think down in the comments!
*The Question of the Week can be found in The Book of Questions by Gregory Stock, Ph.D.
The Confusing Middle 
I wouldn’t tell anyone apart from my boss, because I would need time to prepare my funeral and just live a bit more intensely and visit/meet online friends – you know, the ones you want to see but think you have lots of time to do so. That said, I think after informing my boss most of my co-workers would know soon too.
I would schedule a blog post for the timeframe of my death and instruct readers to spread the news on other social media platforms to explain my absence.
I am not sure if I would tell my family. I wouldn’t want them to be any different around me. But I would write letters to them and tell them that I love them – often.
Difficult question.
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My answer to this question has changed a number of times through the years. At this stage I’m learning to live my life with more openness and I’m discovering unexpected blessings as a result. I’m surprised at Who cares and I’m surprised at how Much they care. I wouldn’t be announcing it in the streets but I wouldn’t hold back from telling everyone else if it seemed appropriate. There is something freeing about honesty.
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My first impulse would be to move overseas to Ireland or Santorini (I know, very different to each other) and enjoy my last months. The hard part of that would be not giving my children the opportunity to spend time with me in my last months. But they live interstate already, and I’d offer to pay for them to come out for as long as they wanted to. If you can’t be selfish in your last 6 months, when? Especially if you’ll be in ‘good health’ to enjoy it.
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