The OP hasn't responded to any of the requests for more info, but has had the time to make posts in other threads. Not polite imho.
But the thread is a good read anyway.
I think OP [-]was tired of the beatings[/-] felt that his question had been adequately answered without the additional details...
I think I was fairly clear that I don't want to work, work, work all the time either. The work environment is boring as well because anything you do and say will be used against you, so you end up saying the blandest and most meaningless things just to seem pleasant. Things like what Haha said about American women would get you hauled down to the basement in 5 minutes. I hold no illusion that the corporate office environment can supply me with 8 hours of interesting things to do much less supply me with 8x5x52x40 days of interesting things to do.
I am still searching for that balance of fun, exercise, and intellectual stimulation. I have yet to find it.
Well, speaking of interference with your fun, didn't you WRITE a book? I'd bet that took quite a bit of time. LOL.
Yeah, I'm not much of an exemplar for life balance. But my point is that it's more of a challenge to fulfill one's potential by being self-entertaining than to be seeking it from the workplace. Human beings are probably doomed to be perpetually oscillating about the sweet spot on the hedonic treadmill, and abdicating that fulfillment to an employer seems to make it that much more soul-sucking.
The error of my ways has been taking on self-imposed obligations. If I like something then I tend to attempt to do it to excess: workouts, taekwondo, home improvement, financial management, investing... even surfing. (I've been chugging 800-mg doses of ibuprofen all week due to taekwondo & surfing.) The key is avoiding deadlines whenever possible. Avoiding structure helps too.
The writing of the book took very little time. (I actually drafted the two final chapters during three evenings in Chicago on a family vacation when my spouse/daughter were watching TV.) What took the most time was coming up with topics and then researching them. Editing takes up a lot of time, too. However there were periods of 2-3 months (and a couple of 6-8 months) where I didn't even look at the book, much less work on it. (I'll always be grateful to all the posters who goaded me back to the keyboard by asking "So, Nords, how's the book coming?") I didn't have a workplace-imposed deadline, so I could be free to write when I had something to write-- instead of writing any ol' piece of crap to make a due date. Hence my jaundiced view of most of the retirement journalists & financial media.
I feel that paid employment produces much of the same deadline compromise of principles.
I've watched spouse volunteer for a non-profit where her time was first given for free, then her expenses were compensated, and finally she was put on the payroll. She hasn't netted any financial return from it since the day she started. She's actually lost money by paying the taxes on it and then donating the amount back to the non-profit. But nothing tests her commitment to the organization more than seeing them waste money on her (that could have gone to the beneficiaries) and knowing that she's donating it back to them-- perhaps to waste on someone else.
I've only been retired for eight years. It's statistically possible that during the next 50 or so I'll find a motive to return to work. But my "Want To Do" list is already so long that I don't think I'll ever have enough spare time for work... heck, I still haven't even filled out Ernie Zelinski's "Get-A-Life Tree".
Hmm. I'm going to have to work this commentary up into a blog post...