I definitely OLY'ed about 10 months ago.
Three years ago I got laid off. With lots of notice and generous severance, and during a booming job market, so financially it wasn't too worrisome.
I had figured I was 5-10 years away from my number, but the big change made me reevaluate.
I had been discounting Social Security and a defined-benefit pension entirely, so my number was based on a 4% rule of just my retirement savings. I decided 55 and 62 were close enough now (I'm 50 as of this posting) that I would allow myself to include them in planning. And I was closer than I thought.
So during my long leadup to my actual layoff I vacillated between trying to find a position within the company, to leaving early and walking away from the severance, to taking the money and then getting another job, to trying to early semiretire.
I finally intended to semiretire figuring I'd need to make some money. I think at the time I intended to work just enough to cover expenses, so really I guess it was coast FIRE even though I kept calling it ESR. But it was a bit of a sudden change in plans without much thought put into it, and before my severance ran out I jumped at another full-time job offer reporting to an ex-coworker that I respected.
I didn't regret going back to work; in fact it was the most fulfilling rewarding job of my career. But I still worked 40+ hours/week and got 2 weeks of vacation a year, and that wasn't really what I wanted anymore.
And come to think of it, I didn't calculate the impact of Social Security and my (non-COLA) pension until a few months into this job when I was lamenting the lack of freedom working full time, or even working on a regular schedule.
So *that's* when I started really thinking about retiring for real. I still expected to need to generate about $10k/year of income to hit the 4% rule, but it's possible I wouldn't need to depending on how the market were to go. Also, my "fail" state is having the pension and SS for at least double the poverty rate, so "not surviving" is totally survivable, if we don't allow for the pension and SS getting killed off somehow.
So I made sure I stayed at least a year at my best job ever and started looking for an opportunity to exit, and I did it during a reorg. The reorg didn't negatively impact my group; in fact my team were superstars and gained members and responsibility. But it was a big change, a lull between big projects with deliverables, so I jumped.
Some of the ideas supporting OLY'ing include the increasing likelihood of death each year (not me personally, but average individual survivial), that in my 50s I'm still young and able enough to go make money, and that if I have to go back to work and can't make as much, I don't have to (make as much; it's ok to make less if I'm proactive in not letting my portfolio bleed too much). And that if I make it through my 50s without a money scare then I'm probably in the clear for the rest of my retirement. SOR risk is mostly an early-years problem.
I'm not going to wait until I lose all my money, SS gets repealed, and my pension fund collapses due to fraud or something before taking corrective action.
But I am kind of hoping to get lucky and not have to worry too much. I'm not planning to look for any sort of work in the foreseeable future, but I am head-faking towards blogging and/or YouTubing, but I talk about it a lot more than I publish anything.
It's only been 10 months, and pretty much my worst fear played out as within a few months the stock market took a big dive due to the pandemic. Also, the pandemic has impacted my plan to sell my house, move & rent, and spend down the freed equity. So I'll actually be tapping my IRAs before the end of this year for expenses. (I'm paying the 10% penalty because SEPP makes little sense in my situation.)
So I retired, the market crashed then recovered, but given the reduced GDP I don't really expect this recovery to stick, and instead of living where I want to with the equity of my home (tax-free) and traveling where I want, I'm stuck (by my own choice in how I approach the pandemic) in my commuter house in a too-hot climate with little safe opportunity for travel.
I don't regret it one bit, for one second.
Edit: I should add that at the job I left, everyone is doing fine and allowed to work remotely during the pandemic. And my manager contacted me mid-pandemic to say hi and casually mention that she has two more job openings if I know anyone who's looking. I can't say that during the turmoil of the pandemic, the markets, and my impacted plans I never considered going back to work, if for nothing else than to pass the pandemic but also to cement my finances, but no, I'm not doing that. And I definitely had the opportunity and probably still do.
Edit 2, after reading the following post: I also tried & succeeded to retire a little before I turned 50, so I can always say "I retired in my 40s."