Pulled the plug.... 60 Days until FI

[IlliniDave]

Happy to hear of your epiphany and the recent uptick and metamorphosis. Thanks for posting that. I'm somewhere between 0 and 1,179 days from my own D-Day. Many of the things you describe--feeling like a shirker for not working, the rhythm of a workweek still embedded in you, are all things I can foresee happening to me. Can't think of any specific questions right now, but if I do I'll revisit.

[scottcoo]

Hi All, Sorry for the delay in getting back on the board to respond..... Well, it's been 9 months since leaving the corporate world behind and to be honest, the first 6 months were a bit of a roller coaster. Although I had been planning for years to do this, the sudden switch to freedom took me by surprise somewhat. I found that I really missed my day to day interaction with work friends and colleagues and found myself feeling a bit lost. All of the plans such as, get fit, travel more, cook different things, learn to play an instrument etc kind of went out the window and to be honest I haven't done anything I thought I would do. Then to add to the feeling of fear, the recent stock market down turn had given me another thing to think about - even though I had planned the finances down to a fine art, the sudden drop in numbers once you are on this side of the fence is certainly a cause for concern. So, to be honest the first 6 months were akin to the feeling of bereavement - I can't explain it in any other words - it felt like I had lost a part of me never to be returned. Sounds bad doesn't it? UNTIL! I was lucky enough to meet up with another early retirement friend who has moved abroad, but came back to visit the UK for a few days. Just spending a few hours with him gave me a whole new outlook and I suddenly realised that I had to let go of the past and take on board the fact that I had been given an amazing opportunity / gift to do whatever I want with the rest of my life (For some reason the previous 6 months had slowly removed that thought out of my head). That was about 2 months ago now and I can certainly say I have switched my mind set almost completely - I am now booked on about 5 trips around Europe over the next 3 months, am spending time mentoring some friends who have businesses. I'm even looking to buy a house in another country to spend some time living in a different community. I've changed my diet completely (Now mostly vegetarian with lots of fish - almost no red meat), I drink far less alcohol than I used to (But I now buy a lot better wine than the plonk I used to drink - I drink less, but better!) and have started going to the theatre and booking up some cultural events. Put it this way, I have never really done these things before and I can now see the life I was originally thinking about when I originally started planning this 8 or 9 years ago. So, I think I have had a really strange 9 months. At first I hated it and wondered what had I done. I really felt how could I be have been so stupid. Then, I have let my old self go and embraced the new life which is beginning to feel pretty amazing. Something else that is really odd - I still feel like I'm skiving from work, although this is beginning to fade, the feeling is still there. Plus, I still feel worse on a Monday morning and better of a Friday - I think getting 20 years of career out of my system will take some more time, but at least now I know the path I'm on is a great one. Please feel free to ask any questions, I will promise to visit back here more often

Wow, thank you so much for posting... that is what I really needed to hear. I am within 2 weeks of leaving my "career", and freaking out on all the levels you mentioned in your post. A close friend has said I needed to take 6 months to really truly transition, and based on your experience it sounds about right as long as you have a friend to give you a wake up call at the 6 month mark!