Freedom17 and soccerluvof4 - you have written words of encouragement. Thank you for your perspective.
Full disclosure here: Our family has not reached FIRE, yet. We are well on our way, and yes, the thought of it is exciting. That said, one thing that concerns me in obtaining FI: my motivation to take care of my responsibilities in life (ie. myself (like excercise), my family (quality time with kids), etc) will decrease. Just because my responsibilities to work will end, it shouldn't mean that my responsibilities to other areas in life should also end. Maybe my thinking is erroneous. Maybe I'm the only one that may deal with this. And that is why I ask those that are already FI.
If laziness IS living life to its fullest, than I'd rather work - work by putting lots of energy into being a great husband, by being an awesome dad, by being a responsible pet owner, in being a caring neighbour, and being one damn good hunter. Now don't get me wrong, I think there is a season for everything. I'm not advocating for being a slave to a job or societies expectations. I agree, there are times in life where sleeping in is awesome, where doing nothing all day is the right thing to do, times where we aren't responsible for anyone but ourselves, times where you look back in a day and say "I wasn't contributing to society today like everyone says I should," and I am good with that! But to sleep life away, doing nothing of value, and taking no responsibility (to oneself even!) I have a hard time with.
Please note that laziness can be had pre-retirement or post-"working for the man." I just wonder if it is a greater issue once retired. A couple of random points to give perspective from where I am coming from.
- In my line of work (healthcare), I most often see a decline in health from those who retire and do nothing.
- And, I also see a large number of people around me who don't work and they piss their life away on drugs, alcohol and gang life - and I think much of it has to do with money being given to them and they didn't have to work for it.
Those are just two reasons off the top of my head of why being lazy and having no responsibilities bother me.
Thank you to all who have responded thus far. The discussion has been helpful to me.