So the moment I declared myself "FIRE" I was offered a short-term gig and took it for some extra cash, and then an extension of that gig which I also took, and now... well I haven't said yes to any more extensions yet but I'm feeling distinctly un-FIREd and subject to all the usual small stresses of working life and fantasies of "really" being FIRE.
How do you avoid this situation? How do you break the instinct that says "sure, that's good money, maybe it will come in handy one day, and I don't have anything else urgent to do."
Maybe this could be "one more month syndrome." I would not be tempted by a year-long project, because that's too long and I know I don't need the money, but if I give in to the temptation of a few months' work too easily and often then the result will be that I'm still workin' for the man out of habit.
I wonder if I need a cold-turkey period of a year or two to break the cycle. Go fishing, watch whole seasons of Star Trek, read some books, get a true feeling for what it means to have a lot of time to dispose of as I will so that I can appreciate what it is that I'm giving up when I decide to go do some work.