I hope that my way of avoiding OMY will be what motivated me to get serious about FI/ER in the first place.
Dad wanted to retire probably 15 years ago. He continued working for various reasons, not the least of which was a relatively paltry savings despite a pretty healthy income. Dad continued working, and was finally able to pull the plug (still working full time) two and a half years ago at age 76.
January 2013, at age 79, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, giving him a 6% chance of surviving beyond age 84, and less than 50/50 shot at seeing 2014.
Fortunately, he's had great docs, great treatment, and is getting along pretty well. I still don't know if he'll be around five years from now, but I'm much more certain that he'll be here for Christmas and beyond.
That kind of perspective helped frame my view on what I want out of life. My wife is more driven by professional ambition than I, but for now she understands and supports my mindset and our drive to ER. At age 36, I'm gunning for ER at 45, if not sooner.
The past six months have been a lot of reflection on what I want out of life, what working provides me and what it takes aaway, how I can make my money actually support my way of life (rather than my way of life having to support how I make money). I have a pretty good idea of how I'll spend my time as a retiree, and what DW and I want to do together. I hope the reflection now serves as my "mid-life crisis" and I can glide right on through to ER confident that I know what I want thanks to my dad.
Now we just have to decide if we want kids!! I hear that changes things...