Happy New Year, everyone!
I was hoping I could solicit some feedback/thoughts on a dilemma I will shortly have.
I FIRE'd for the second time in June. I spent 5 months not working, which I thoroughly enjoyed, before I picked up a part-time job stocking groceries. I took the job mainly because I wanted to see what made Publix so awesome, and I wanted to get out of the house a bit. I figured stocking groceries would be a good way to get some exercise. I don't care for a second about the money. Yay FI!
We have our house up for rent and expect to have a tenant by Spring (we now rent somewhere else), at which point my wife could stop working and we can do whatever we want. We're trying to start a family so there's definitely part of me that wants to maximize our chance to see some of the world before a child arrives.
However, I'm also liking what this job is doing for me physically. Injuries have piled up over the last couple years, and time spent away from the gym as a result has made me pretty weak. I suspect the weakest I've ever been. I had some serious pain in my left knee this spring that I thought might require surgery and some back trouble this summer that I was concerned could be disc related. The body of evidence I have at this point indicates I have just been getting weaker because I always worked in an office, I stopped going to the gym due to injuries, and I'm getting older. I thought I could just hop right back into CrossFit but I forget that father time is creeping up on me. I'm now in my mid-30's and those first aches and pains are starting to show.
This grocery stocking job is pretty intense. There is literally no standing still. There's always something to do and my role in the department has been mostly stocking so I'm constantly lifting 10-40 pounds. I can get going and be mildly sweating for a couple hours at a time with the proper intensity. It's probably like being paid to go to intensive physical therapy. I've been there for a month and a half now and after working 3 days straight I'm still pretty wiped out. It basically takes all my time off just to physically recover from the demands of the job so I'm not very adventurous outside of work right now. This is the biggest draw back. I definitely do not feel "retired." However, I'm already noticing that it hurts less now after 3 days than it did 2 weeks ago. I can now bound up the stairs, two at a time, without pain in my left knee. I haven't been able to do that in probably two years. My back problem has mostly disappeared as my back and core muscles are strengthening. I won't get ripped stocking groceries but I could build a very solid muscular foundation if I stuck with it and got my diet right.
I have wanted to buy a one way ticket to somewhere and see where it leads us as long as I have had the FIRE dream and that's what I always thought we'd do after my wife leaves her job. However, I'm not getting any younger and I cannot deny the appeal of a "forced" exercise regimen that would help me immensely. I don't believe I'm strong enough to return to a gym setting like I'd like to (CrossFit), and I doubt I would voluntarily put myself through the amount of pain I'm going through now to see rapid physical changes. So there's a part of me that also thinks delaying travel, until after a child if necessary, might be the best choice for me physically.
If I did forgo our opportunity for childless travel, I'd want to make the most of it by finally getting my diet locked in. One of the cool things about that is that I work in a grocery store with tons of good, clean food to eat. I've dropped two pants sizes since I started there and if I dialed in the diet I would be in the best shape of my life, weight-wise, within 60 days. Strength-wise I'm guessing it would take 6 months to build a solid foundation.
So my dilemma is travel and freedom and self-directed exercise vs. work and (most likely) accelerated physical improvement. Thoughts?