I miss the schedule. I also hated the schedule, but I've learned I'm the type who finds it much easier to get things done when I'm already busy. It's a bit strange. I can sleep until 11am and then stay up reading or writing until 3am. Because I can. But I don't think it's especially healthy. And I procrastinate a lot more, perhaps because I feel like I have all the time in the world. When I had very limited time, I had to take an open evening or Saturday morning, or whatever time there was, and Get Shit Done. So I did. Now, that sense of urgency is gone.
It's strange because I love having so much free time, but I also struggle to manage it. Some of that may be partly due to my specific circumstances though.
I can relate to this, and FIRE or not I always knew this was the case. I'm one of those "if it wasn't for the last minute, nothing would get done" people. Tasks will get put off for immediate gratification, or they will grow to consume all available time.
What are your specific circumstances stances that you refer to? If you don't mind sharing, I'm curious given that I find the same patterns occurring.
I didn't choose to stop working, and when I left my last full-time job, at the time it was going to be a 2.5 year hiatus, before we moved back Stateside and I got back to my career. Fastforward, and now it will be at least 9 years, assuming the Navy sends us back after the current overseas tour. And it's been tough. We have no kids, and my career was, in some ways, my Thing. I don't like not having the means to support myself (even though Husband is completely cool about our shared finances), and it's all a bit of an on-going identity crisis. So I didn't choose this, exactly, and that makes it more of a struggle, I think, than it would be if I declared FIRE and left the workforce intentionally.
On top of that, in my husband's current position comes with a lot of expectations for me, some of which chafe a bit (and other's of which I find pretty enjoyable). But it's all sorts of meetings and events and a couple hours here and a long phone call there, and it feels like things are always popping up for which I need to be available, so getting myself on a self-motivated schedule--something I'd struggle with even in ideal circumstances--seems tough. Because on Wednesday and Friday there are evening events that go late at night and have various things to prep for during the day (oh, and hosting the pre-party on Friday, plus getting ready for a formal affair), then on Saturday helping set up a sales booth in the morning and man it for much of the day despite the hangover, then on Monday morning I have a 1045 meeting at my house and the entire afternoon was spent running errands for this friday's event, and then going to a 7 pm meeting tonight. (Yes, that's actually my schedule for the past week, with a good many things left out.) So any kind of "wake at 845, workout and then shower and get ready by 10, write for an hour, chores for an hour, lunch at noon..." kind of schedule is pretty much impossible because there's no pattern or consistency to all the other things in my life.