Hi All,
Well, I did it three months ago and wanted to give an update. I always feel I'm cheating as - although we have non-real estate assets of >$1m, my wife is still working. That said, I'm now FIREd. My situation is that I am spending 50% of my time caring for our four-and-a-half year old son whilst trying to launch a new career as a freelance writer supported by our revenue from investments. We've moved to a near-to-rural area in Western Canada from Toronto as part of this change. I am 46 and spouse is 39.
The biggest thing I wanted to report is that you DEFINITELY (in my view) need at least three months to decompress from corporate bullshit. I read an interesting piece in the British media to the effect that "you can get off the wheel, but you are still a hamster" until you change your way of thinking. It's only in the last two weeks that I have started a) working out in earnest - a big goal for me; b) actually reading, writing, thinking and making pitches to editors and c) processing some of the really very bad corporate politics which were going on at my last firm. One thing helping me make the transition is the fact that I know my successor and he is rapidly encountering a lot of the same crap I went through.
I expect it won't be until mid-summer before I can make any clear judgements about where I want to go next. I remember I asked a question of you, my colleagues in mustachianism, in December about decompression time and got a wide range of responses from six months to none to over a year. My take on this, having done it, is that it's at least three months decompression time, and to be honest probably more. I was on the wheel for 23 years, so...
Above, I should report that I am HAPPIER and sleeping better than I have been in years. No, it's not nirvana. No, I don't wake up every single day fresh as a daisy. But as the days and weeks go by, I slowly realise that I may never again have to face people telling me one thing and doing another, ripping me off, over-loading me, etc etc, and I'm becoming a better husband, father and human being because of it.
Will check back again in another three months or so with another update. Oh, and I should say I've got my first two commissions for freelance work under my belt and am pushing for #3 tomorrow morning. Wish me luck!!
BA