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I'm thinking about retiring early. I have a reasonable nest-egg, and I realize that I worked too hard for the first half of my life. What if I minimize what I d

I'm thinking about retiring early. I have a reasonable nest-egg, and I realize that I worked too hard for the first half of my life. What if I minimize what I do for the later half. Is it wrong to sit on a couch and enjoy the presence of my wife while watching shitty TV? Is it really that bad? Play computer games with my friends? It feels so easy to be distracted with things and goals when the real meat of life is being present with people. I'm thinking about painting what I feel. Hang out with wife, spend a few hours on fitness, a few hours doing art, and maybe dicking around on the computer. No deadlines. No meaning. No hustle.

klohto 5y ago
Absolutely not. You should do what you enjoy. I was facing a similar problem, where I started playing games again after few years of grinding and it was hard for my mind to accept that I can “slack-off” and do something else than work. Took me a whole month of not working and just enjoying stuff to rewire my brain to that healthy relationship you describe. I don’t believe retiring early is necessary, but this lifestyle definitely requires a on-your-own-time job.
- mathgladiator 5y ago
  It's strange. On one level, I've reached a degree of mastery with computing and leadership, so should I use this knowledge? Or... what if I just started painting. I answered the question of what I would paint. I'd focus and paint dragons versus solo man in every day tasks. In some form, a form of solo therapy dealing with the internal hero journey that I have been on with my career. The key mistake that I feel I have made is focusing on goals... the slaying of the dragon. But, what happens when you slay the dragon? find a bigger dragon? Keep going? I've been haunted by the David Chou JRE ( https://youtu.be/j7T6__UbhBI?t=11323 https://youtu.be/j7T6__UbhBI?t=11323 ) in relation to Anthony Bourdain.
N00bN00b 5y ago
It's not wrong. Life is ultimately meaningless. I'm doing the same thing. Except that I understand that I was able to do so because I'm considerably more resourceful than average. I personally think that gives me the responsibility to at least improve the lives of a couple of people. Especially because it's relatively easy for me, compared to how hard most people have it on planet earth. But if you just got the money from your parents or something, even that reasoning doesn't apply to you. Most people really don't add much more to history than hanging out and making sure their DNA is passed on to another generation. Nothing wrong with being one of them. You might end up depressed due to boredom and lack of purpose, but that's easily fixable with antidepressants.

klohto 5y ago

Absolutely not. You should do what you enjoy. I was facing a similar problem, where I started playing games again after few years of grinding and it was hard for my mind to accept that I can “slack-off” and do something else than work. Took me a whole month of not working and just enjoying stuff to rewire my brain to that healthy relationship you describe. I don’t believe retiring early is necessary, but this lifestyle definitely requires a on-your-own-time job.

mathgladiator 5y ago
It's strange. On one level, I've reached a degree of mastery with computing and leadership, so should I use this knowledge? Or... what if I just started painting. I answered the question of what I would paint. I'd focus and paint dragons versus solo man in every day tasks. In some form, a form of solo therapy dealing with the internal hero journey that I have been on with my career. The key mistake that I feel I have made is focusing on goals... the slaying of the dragon. But, what happens when you slay the dragon? find a bigger dragon? Keep going? I've been haunted by the David Chou JRE ( https://youtu.be/j7T6__UbhBI?t=11323 https://youtu.be/j7T6__UbhBI?t=11323 ) in relation to Anthony Bourdain.

N00bN00b 5y ago

It's not wrong. Life is ultimately meaningless. I'm doing the same thing. Except that I understand that I was able to do so because I'm considerably more resourceful than average. I personally think that gives me the responsibility to at least improve the lives of a couple of people. Especially because it's relatively easy for me, compared to how hard most people have it on planet earth. But if you just got the money from your parents or something, even that reasoning doesn't apply to you. Most people really don't add much more to history than hanging out and making sure their DNA is passed on to another generation. Nothing wrong with being one of them. You might end up depressed due to boredom and lack of purpose, but that's easily fixable with antidepressants.