I’m not going back to work either, but I’m starting to think about it as not going back to work like that.
Let’s retire the concept of work-life balance.
Work happens within the broader space of life - separating the two has created a pretty damaging mindset for so many in traditional jobs (and particularly office/knowledge workers).
Let’s start to bring work back into life. And, by extension, bring ourselves back to life…
My sabbatical 7 years ago was interesting. I was going to do this massive solo road trip, hit all the national parks, just live very cheaply for as long as possible. Only only problem: I never tried solo road tripping before uprooting my life. I only read about how awesome it was on the internet. Actually, I don't enjoy solo road tripping at all and I definitely won't be doing that again. So, I bought a cheap place in an urban desert, joined some sports leagues, did some doordash driving which was a great way to learn what restaurants were around, and I spent a ton of time in FIRE social media space, and I went on lots and lots of dates. I quickly learned that voluntary unemployment was not attractive to the people who were matching with me on dating apps, so I probably need to include work in my life. I cold emailed a company in my former industry and ended up in a job that paid like $15/hour doing some data entry with basically zero human contact, it paid crap and had a bit of an annoying commute. It was low effort, but suddenly I lacked energy to even want to date. I quit that job like 2 months later. A prominent blogger asked me if I had retired again? "I guess so". Maybe a year later, I started applying to a part time government job because I was getting a little bored with all the free time and in reality I did not have enough money to just be on sabbatical forever. interviewed to work in airport...passed the interview, applied to some other airports, got offered an airport job in a Hawaiian tourist area - but it didn't math out to work part time there. Working in an airport was very humbling and also with the frequent human interaction, made me appreciate my time spent alone. Lasted 9 months there before I found a more normal desk job in the government. Accidentally started a whole second career in government, ended up moving back to that dirt cheap condo which was listed for sale and never sold, and now all of a sudden it's been 5.75 years in various government jobs with 5 physical moves during that time frame. The fun of living in different neighborhoods as well as employer funded travel to new-to-me cities like Jacksonville and Cincinnati. I'll get a micro pension in 23 years. In reality, I didn't need to go back to work to improve my dating life, and going back to work didn't do that. I more needed to improve my mental health and better attract the kind of person who wants to be with the kind of person that I am and strive to be. Portfolio has more than doubled since I left my original career. FI based on current expenses isn't all that far away. I sometimes think about another sabbatical because there are definitely things I would prefer to be doing rather than prioritizing work, but I am very confident that I'll hit my financial goals before I age out of doing the things that I would like to do, so I guess I don't mind delaying gratification too much. These days, I tell myself that if I can't stand my job for 2 week straight, that's when I know I'm out. That seems to work for now.
SAME.
I’m not going back to work either, but I’m starting to think about it as not going back to work like that.
Let’s retire the concept of work-life balance.
Work happens within the broader space of life - separating the two has created a pretty damaging mindset for so many in traditional jobs (and particularly office/knowledge workers).
Let’s start to bring work back into life. And, by extension, bring ourselves back to life…
My sabbatical 7 years ago was interesting. I was going to do this massive solo road trip, hit all the national parks, just live very cheaply for as long as possible. Only only problem: I never tried solo road tripping before uprooting my life. I only read about how awesome it was on the internet. Actually, I don't enjoy solo road tripping at all and I definitely won't be doing that again. So, I bought a cheap place in an urban desert, joined some sports leagues, did some doordash driving which was a great way to learn what restaurants were around, and I spent a ton of time in FIRE social media space, and I went on lots and lots of dates. I quickly learned that voluntary unemployment was not attractive to the people who were matching with me on dating apps, so I probably need to include work in my life. I cold emailed a company in my former industry and ended up in a job that paid like $15/hour doing some data entry with basically zero human contact, it paid crap and had a bit of an annoying commute. It was low effort, but suddenly I lacked energy to even want to date. I quit that job like 2 months later. A prominent blogger asked me if I had retired again? "I guess so". Maybe a year later, I started applying to a part time government job because I was getting a little bored with all the free time and in reality I did not have enough money to just be on sabbatical forever. interviewed to work in airport...passed the interview, applied to some other airports, got offered an airport job in a Hawaiian tourist area - but it didn't math out to work part time there. Working in an airport was very humbling and also with the frequent human interaction, made me appreciate my time spent alone. Lasted 9 months there before I found a more normal desk job in the government. Accidentally started a whole second career in government, ended up moving back to that dirt cheap condo which was listed for sale and never sold, and now all of a sudden it's been 5.75 years in various government jobs with 5 physical moves during that time frame. The fun of living in different neighborhoods as well as employer funded travel to new-to-me cities like Jacksonville and Cincinnati. I'll get a micro pension in 23 years. In reality, I didn't need to go back to work to improve my dating life, and going back to work didn't do that. I more needed to improve my mental health and better attract the kind of person who wants to be with the kind of person that I am and strive to be. Portfolio has more than doubled since I left my original career. FI based on current expenses isn't all that far away. I sometimes think about another sabbatical because there are definitely things I would prefer to be doing rather than prioritizing work, but I am very confident that I'll hit my financial goals before I age out of doing the things that I would like to do, so I guess I don't mind delaying gratification too much. These days, I tell myself that if I can't stand my job for 2 week straight, that's when I know I'm out. That seems to work for now.