Hi - I "retired" in March of 2012 at the age of 36 after years of planning, and some motivation given by reading threads from early-retirement.org. I left my job because while I was at work, I would be wishing I could be living my life (as opposed to spending 8 hours a day doing what someone else wanted). I am grateful to have had the opportunity to do this, and I feel like I should be happier each day - but I am not. I have my own online business that I live off of, but in case that fails somehow, I have enough savings to live off of a 3.5% safe withdrawal rate. I'm not usually worried about money.
Much of the time, I end up feeling guilty, however. During the days of work, I would long for break time: time to just catch up on life, or do things that I wanted to do. Now that I'm in charge of my own time, I find it difficult to get things going. It is almost as if I did better under pressure. I feel guilty that I'm not accomplishing anything, but if I reflect on my previous employment, I can't say that I was significantly changing the world either.
It has been great to participate in activities that would have been difficult while working: a friend's mid-week wedding, visiting remote family members, etc., but when those activities are through, and there is time between activities, I get sad and wonder if I should return to work to occupy the down time!
I assume others may have felt this; I now live in a community of relatively early retirees (though most of them are about 20 years older than me). Everyone seems happy, and they claim that they couldn't imagine returning to work. I wonder if anyone has any opinions on how to make retirement a more positive experience (or if perhaps I should return to work).
Much of the time, I end up feeling guilty, however. During the days of work, I would long for break time: time to just catch up on life, or do things that I wanted to do. Now that I'm in charge of my own time, I find it difficult to get things going. It is almost as if I did better under pressure. I feel guilty that I'm not accomplishing anything, but if I reflect on my previous employment, I can't say that I was significantly changing the world either.
It has been great to participate in activities that would have been difficult while working: a friend's mid-week wedding, visiting remote family members, etc., but when those activities are through, and there is time between activities, I get sad and wonder if I should return to work to occupy the down time!
I assume others may have felt this; I now live in a community of relatively early retirees (though most of them are about 20 years older than me). Everyone seems happy, and they claim that they couldn't imagine returning to work. I wonder if anyone has any opinions on how to make retirement a more positive experience (or if perhaps I should return to work).