Early Retirement Extreme Forums

This thread really helped me reflect.

4 years ago I was actually finishing up my overseas screening to be stationed in Japan. I was dead set on doing a full 20 and retiring for that pension. At this point I was at ten years of service in the Navy. Two months later I would take a month of leave and travel around the southern USA realizing I didn’t want to stay in the military. I was freshly debt free and was deep into reading about personal finance. Fire was something I had just begun to hear about.

It’s crazy to think how much your life can change with one little month off of work.

January 5, 2019, I was at the most highly paid job I've ever had. It was in a very polluted place, I had a lot of anxiety, and I was overworked. I coped with junk food and gained a lot of weight. Unbeknownst to myself, I'd end up pulling a runner for covid, working remotely for a couple of months, and then getting fired. I ended up at my parents', both the pandemic and "home sweet home" messing with my head. Probably the most insane I've been, if I look back. Because I didn't work from May 2020 till October '21 and then bought my money sink of an apartment, these last two years I've been getting back up to where I started in terms of savings. Am also saner - though i don't know if i'd exactly call myself sane right now

Four years ago I was half a year on from discovering ERE and had spent the ensuing time going through an existential crisis. In fact, I recall the period being particularly anguishing as I struggled to apply what seemed so right, while being still so young and naïve. I still thought ERE was only about saving as much money as possible in order to FIRE ASAP; everything was framed in that way.

I was also entering my final semester at uni and going through a phase of hating the idea of working in an office; I wanted to work outside, perhaps as a ranger for the National Trust. I recall I had a second job interview for an entry post-grad dev position but called to cancel on the day because I felt so repulsed by the idea. It all seems very strange to me now, not because I like office work, but because I think I'm more pragmatic and can focus on the parts I derive value from.

We were comparatively much poorer. I remember celebrating (mildly) when we crossed the 20K net worth line. We had no debt (no mortgage) and only one income source (my partner's).

In the coming couple of months my focus on ERE waned and I became heavily invested in meditation and Buddhism, with an ecological spin. I discarded parts of it (though not the frugality and DIY ethics) until early 2021 when I found this video and picked up the book again.

Indexing. Super tight with money. Very not focused on health or building self up, just saving to retire early. Kinda dead inside but at least had some love and joy. Finally single that time but fat, not focused.

Feels like a metamorphosis since then. 2 years ago is when it got to its peak negativity, 6 months after the lockdowns, aya woke me up. Health became #1.

Now, that’s changing but health is central to my life in a way it wasn’t back then.

I ate junk food daily, consumed junk content daily, at least I wasn’t doing drugs or in violent situations. At least I was saving. Still wanted to travel. Now I’m so over it, want to routine now: work, train, play, and sleep shortly after sunset. Nice life.

4 years ago I had the same job, same boss, same spouse, same house, same car, and was hanging out on the same ere forums.

Nothing has changed except I am now a little older, a little richer, and have more gray hair...