People who say “you will be bored” when you retire young are insane

Hi, I am more or less at my FIRE goal at 33 years old. For context, I was into FIRE before I even knew FIRE was a thing… I just called it “dropping out of the matrix”.One thing that has always surprised me is that, I learned not to tell people–colleagues, parents, friends, anyone–of my FIRE goals. It almost never resonates.I would say 9 times out of 10, the response is some version of “wouldn’t you be bored without working?!” or “you should find work you’re passionate about!”I never understood this.All I can say is, over the years, I’ve noticed my happiness, stress level, and overall sense of fulfillment correlates far more strongly with workload than with, say, income or job role.And the relationship isn’t subtle. The less I work, the better I feel–mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. I’m also a better person around others.As I’ve moved closer to FIRE, I’ve just become happier and happier. At this point, I work 10 hours a week, earn good money, and I just feel GOOD. When work ticks up, this falls though.Secondly, I also find it somewhat disturbing how deeply many people tie meaning and identity to work. In the US, you ask someone “what do you do?” first; not, “what do you love?”Why do so many people feel they need an economic and productivity motive in order to have meaning and be happy? Don’t you have things that you are passionate about outside of work? Wouldn’t you rather do that than look at Excel spreadsheets 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, non-stop? Personally, I do think it’s a form of cognitive dissonance-coping for those unable to “just drop out”.Now that I’m essentially semi-retired at 33, it’s my clock and calendar. My days are scheduled around my priorities, not someone else’s. I enjoy the freedom of waking up and knowing the day is for me, and the next day after that, and the day after that.The best way I can describe it is that I feel like a child who doesn’t have the stress of school or anything, but also with the freedom and maturity of being an adult. Like, an endless summer break from school.And, yes, that’s been every bit as good as it sounds!Anyhow, I’m curious of other people’s take on this topic? via /r/Fire https://ift.tt/rNaG38k