How have family and friends embraced your early retirement?
Some were cool with it.
But others.... they don't understand FIRE and how it's possible.
It's hard to alter a society that is conditioned by the idea that you "work until age 65".
You don't have to alter society though.
Choosing a slightly different path doesn't have to be anything more than a personal decision.
Exactly, without the rest of society continuing in their way the markets wouldn't do so well, wages might not be as high etc.
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I actually mean it in a much broader sense.
Somebody doing something against the grain doesn't need to be a commentary on the choices of others.
For example, choosing not to have children doesn't have to be some kind of statement about parenting, it can just be a personal choice and no big deal.
Beyond that though, people are going to feel this judgement and pressure far more if they're surrounding themselves with a homogenous population.
It only feels like everyone is doing the same thing if everyone you interact with does the same thing. Really, there's so much range of human life out there that being a bit unconventional really isn't special or a big deal in any way.
For me, the vast majority of people I interact with are exactly the same: same education, same profession, same stresses, same goals, same range of income, same, same, same.
If I spent all of my time with them, I would feel like a crazy outlier, like a freak, and like I somehow need to defend my radically different life choices.
Except, I don't spend all my time in the sameness. I go out of my way to integrate all kinds of people into my sphere. It means I'm nowhere close to the most interesting or counter cultural person in my world.
I'm a minimalist who chooses to work part time and live in an apartment instead of a house. It's not that bloody radical, nor should it be of any real importance to anyone.
My life choices just aren't that big a deal.
Now, the kind of people I meet in my volunteer work? Yeah, some of them are legit fascinating and wildly different from the norm. They put it into perspective for me that just because my homogenous professional world thinks I'm some kind of radical, I'm really REALLY not.
In the world of ice cream, I'm as radical as vanilla but with those little dark flecks of vanilla bean. I'm no rainbow swirl, not even close.