I think part of this is that, for most of us, our jobs become a part of our identity. So leaving your job means losing part of what has made you you, for better or worse. If we are the sum of our experiences then a 40 hour a week job equates to about a quarter of our identities. When we retire we're replacing that with blank space to fill, like that scene in the Matrix they're in the white space and can have anything. Some folks have become so used to having that space filled for them that the sudden ability to fill it with whatever they want is frightening because they've never exercised that muscle.
Yes. This should be required reading for everyone heading toward FIRE...lest they become one of the "I'm bored in FIRE" contingent (they exist on this forum). Just leaving your job is not enough. Having a FULL life outsife of your job is very important.
I might be the exception to this, depending on how you define a full life. I think I strongly identified with my job, the value it added to society, or at least the company, puritanical hard work, type A personality, goal oriented, etc. My working life for the last 15 or so years has been go to work , come home, try to catch up on errands and tasks on the weekends. My social life dwindled, hobbies abandoned, etc. I've burned out several times in my working career, the last role really did it though. So, I found MMM a bit more than a year ago and started evaluating where I was financially, then set the goal to retire at 55yo, which I did this July.
And not an ExFlyBoy style retirement - real not working anymore retirement! As it happens, so far I am not bored, and am content not necessarily being really busy all the time. It could be too early to tell, maybe I am just still in a recovery phase ---- but I feel like I have a flyer life now (only doing what I want, when I want) than I did while working.
Maybe we are saying the same thing, just with different words - because I very much respect what ExFlyBoy has to say, but don't NOT retire just because you think you haven't established a full life outside of work.