For the OP,
Come back to this thread when you are in your 40's and let us know how much you still enjoy corporate bullshit. All the new buzzwords and methods of work that MBA's come up with every two years that management feels the need to implement only to abandon them and switch to the hot new thing in two more years.
+1 Besides, I do feel a little sorry for people who wouldn't know what to do with themselves if they were not working for a company. You only get one life, so why would I dedicate it to someone else - for their profit? I have a myriad of interests, there really isn't enough time in the day to do it all. There is always something new to do and see.
Life is meant to be enjoyed on your own terms. I can travel and stay as long as I like, there is no problem if I want to visit old friends or go on tour in Europe, I can hang out at the local beaches whenever I want, watch the sun rise and stay with my camera as long as I like. I can meet friends for a drink at another beach, watch the sun set over the ocean.
I love home projects, like doing a fancy stain job on our concrete and re-designing the kitchen. I love my garden and we throw fun garden parties, the list never ends ... Heck, it is hard to even find enough time to whip my photography site back into shape.
There are three new cool recipes hanging on my fridge I'm looking forward to trying.
I can read till 3am, because I can't tear myself away from a book and not worry about getting up in the morning. This site is proving addictive, but it is paying off with much needed information.
Since I have the time for creating a delicious meal from scratch, I will invite the kids (son+DIL) over for supper occasionally - they are glad for it, their lives are busy and stressful.
Since I am home right now, I had time to domesticate a stray kitten that showed up in the yard one day. Someone cut off part of his ear, which meant it was wild, but immunized and spayed. Took him months, but Wolfie is now a happy purring kitty, a real treasure in our lives.
By MMM standards I got my FI by 40 (my career was in Int'l Comm'l Insurance - loved it, until one day I got a new boss and the company went through a massive layoff phase) - jobbed a little - opened a Bistro - moved across the pond - jobbed some more - went back to college for another degree at 50 - opened my own Interior Design consulting business - was diagnosed with an immune disease - had to give up the biz, but still jobbed a little off and on (different things like Interpreter - Int'l CSV - Senior Home Care - Mystery Shopping).
The point is I loved it all, but it was nice to know I could walk away anytime and I have several times without regret. My first career in Insurance (near 100K then) was a choice I made based on the potential of income and the fact that here was a field just opening up for women - and drum roll, they actually were paid the same money as the men.
Yup, I'm 66 and since mid 2014 "officially" retired with SS and all:) - the only reason I'm here on this forum is because Mr. R. is still working at 54 and I'm revamping our finances so he can retire when he wants to. We are both healthy and luckily he likes his job, makes decent money and gets bonuses plus 4 weeks vacation plus personal days - so things are not dire.