Early Retirement Extreme Forums

On Monday when I woke up it was very cold and raining. I knew I was owed a day of leave so I called in an told them I was taking the day off, and went back to sleep for half an hour. I went for a walk on a towpath near to where I am living and saw some mallards, coots, grebes, water rats and mute swans. That in itself would have made that a successful day off in my view, but about half way though my walk I saw a kingfisher! I have never seen one before but it was beautiful and very fast.

It reminded me that a lot of things that make me very happy, like seeing a bird I haven't seen before, are free. It got me wondering if any of you folks ever take a day off to do the stuff that makes you happy? It seems to me like to take a day off work something has to be wrong. You're expected to be sick or have a funeral to go to or a dentists appointment etc. It doesn't seem to occur to people to take a day off once in a while to just do something to lift their spirits a bit.

How often if at all do you take days off and what do you do with them? I think when I am FI I will do a lot of walking and seeing of wildlife.

themodernchap wrote:It seems to me like to take a day off work something has to be wrong. You're expected to be sick or have a funeral to go to or a dentists appointment etc.

mind control. it works.

I'm recently retired and get to walk about whenever I want now. Usually I hike to fish and it's those hikes that create wildlife viewing opportunities. Oregon wasn't settled in the period of tow paths, but we do have logging roads (which, if you're in the right location, used to be logging railroads) which make the walking easier and there's lots to see. Of course, when I'm fishing, I'm often busting through brush or wading.

Avians I occasionally see: bald eagles, grebes, coots, pelicans, mergansers, sandpipers, various hawks, vultures, blue heron, killdeer, woodpecker, grouse, & mallards.
Avians I regularly see: crows, ravens, stellar jays, robins, goldfinch, rufus hummingbirds (except during drippy winter), flicker.
Mammals that visit our yard: rabbits (domestic let loose & native Oregon brush rabbit), weasels, moles, kangaroo rats, field mice, Roosevelt elk, blacktail deer, Columbian blacktail deer, pine squirrel, chipmunk, raccoon, black bear, cougar, bobcat, beaver, coyote, & opossum.
Mammals that are nearby: otter, sea lion.

Cool things I've seen: crows hunting field mice after mowing, weasel taking down a baby rabbit, eagles flying by our second story windows, heron cruising along the river at eye level, blue skink (look that one up!) with a tail and one without, oyster shells presumably brought inland for dinner by an eagle though I haven't caught them in the act yet, quartz brought downstream from veins in the nearest basalt cliff and beginning their journey to the ocean while on the way to becoming rounded agates, 10' diameter old growth stumps with the notch cut for a plank so loggers could operate a big handsaw from the logging era before chainsaws and sometimes these notches are placed so the loggers were hanging over a 50' cliff, elk trotting down the middle of a river, beaver slapping tail before diving into its home, and a deer that walked towards me along a road & didn't see me but was finally alerted to my scent when only 10' away before scampering off in a panic.

And then there's our fine fish species: searun cutthroat trout, steelhead, chinook (aka king salmon), coho (aka silver salmon), chum (aka dog salmon), flounder, & sculpin. Except for the flounder, they all spawn in my backyard... I'm such a voyeur!

I haven't worked for 2.5 years and so every day is like that for me. I'm fortunate in that I have a love of nature and the outdoors and see beauty in most things. I remember pointing out some beautiful flowers in New Zealand when hiking the Milford Track and my cousin pretty much laughed at me. He couldn't see it. He treated the whole hike as a training exercise and almost ran it with earphones in. It's one of the most beautiful walks around so he really missed out. He doesn't get it.

Even though I was a high achieving person for a long time, I'm easily pleased these days and enjoy everyday moments and simple activities like walking in nature, cooking, hanging out with my wife etc.

Overachieving is overrated.

It baffles me when some people dont notice beauty.
I even relish walking around my own neighborhood often and enjoy looking at all the historic buildings and parks and flowers and trees and vegetation. I have been talking night walks recently since its light out now until 9pm

There are a few nature preserves and a local land trust that (along with a state park) occupies a good fraction of the local mountaintops and some river bottom area. When the weather is suitable I'll often go for an easy hike in one of the areas. Not too much wildlife to see except a few deer if it's early in the day and the occasional pileated woodpecker (which are more fun to hear than see). Since they are all easily accessible I tend not to take days off since they are easily accessible on the weekends being 15 min or less of a drive to my house to the trailheads. In my yard I can occasionally see a barred owl or a cooper's hawk along with the usual song birds. Geese and blue herons are plentiful in the neighborhood as well.

What I do like to use my paid time off for is to get up to my cabin (or before I bought it, up to the general area) for a long two weeks. The main activity is fishing but the area is generally wild and sightings can easily include black bears, wolves, moose, eagles, otters, partridge, lynx, etc. I haven't seen a lynx myself but people in the neighborhood have photographed them so I know they are there. Of it all, my favorite is listening to loons in the evening. I also heard a whippoorwill (sp?) for the first time in 40 years this past summer.

I accumulate sick days, 1 per month, and I use them when I feel like it (sick or not). No one asks questions, but I work in public education so I think people expect that you'll need some mental health days. Also, thanks to union rules, your boss can't even ask you about them until you've taken 10+ sick days in a row.

So I maybe take 1 every other month. And if I actually end up needing them, I can "borrow" from future days as well.

Crazy. I get 5 weeks of vacation a year and I use it all and would use more if I could. I spend most of it working in my woods, as that's what I like to do. Plus it's a major chore to get away for over a week at a time, as there's nobody to take my place.

George, we used to have those skinks when I first moved to our place in 1991, but I haven't seen one since Weyerhauser clear cut the 80 year old stand behind our place. We still have tons of Western Fence lizards, though if you didn't know we have cats you might think we have some odd bob-tailed sub-species.

Get a dog and you can walk outdoors every day...

Although it isn't quite as fun in the winter if you have to fit walking around working 9-5 as almost all weekday walks are in the dark.... that said, walking in the woods with only moonlight can be quite soothing for the soul.

This is one thing I miss about my old job from years past; we got 3 weeks vacation and 80 hours of sick time per year. I remember in the year prior to my resignation, I used almost all of it. I knew I was on my way out the door so I figured screw it, it's a benefit awarded to me I might as well use it because I'm likely never coming back here anyways. Looking back, it was a good choice. I should take time off like that at my job, but alas, currently I only get 14 days of leave not counting holidays. Not a ton to burn. Makes me long for another job with better benefits (like the gov job offer I had).

I sometimes do this with my 'work from home' day. I turn it into a 'work on chores' day typically, but recently its become a 'work on the home' day with our renovation work.

SimpleLife wrote:This is one thing I miss about my old job from years past; we got 3 weeks vacation and 80 hours of sick time per year. I remember in the year prior to my resignation, I used almost all of it. I knew I was on my way out the door so I figured screw it, it's a benefit awarded to me I might as well use it because I'm likely never coming back here anyways. Looking back, it was a good choice. I should take time off like that at my job, but alas, currently I only get 14 days of leave not counting holidays.

Thats awful. I dont think I could handle such low leave. Have you tried asking for unpaid leave when you want time off?

thrifty++ wrote:

SimpleLife wrote:This is one thing I miss about my old job from years past; we got 3 weeks vacation and 80 hours of sick time per year. I remember in the year prior to my resignation, I used almost all of it. I knew I was on my way out the door so I figured screw it, it's a benefit awarded to me I might as well use it because I'm likely never coming back here anyways. Looking back, it was a good choice. I should take time off like that at my job, but alas, currently I only get 14 days of leave not counting holidays.

Thats awful. I dont think I could handle such low leave. Have you tried asking for unpaid leave when you want time off?

They pay me 153k a year to wfh. I try to just take their money and not complain. Now that my wealth machinery is in place, next job can focus on pto, with pay around 125k.

Did wrote:Overachieving is overrated.

Great line.

I'm a mature 42 yo man with 3 kids and therefore I take days off all the time. When I work from home typically I ride my bike to the jiu-jitsu gym and then play chess and surf the net. I do spend some time typically in freaken meetings and responding to emails. When I chuck a sickie I tend to the same thing but I don't do any work. I love time off. I like to remind myself how much I'm saving when I do this as well.

I'm on holidays and I tell myself that I'm earning $300 per day now. I earn more than that but that is how much I save every day I work even if I don't work.

steveo73 wrote:

Did wrote:Overachieving is overrated.

Great line.

I agree. Its really not worth it. I have worked my ass off jumping through all the hoops we're told to jump through for the past 10 years and I think that's quite enough. The next 5 years will be easy. I just got a new supervisor that really loves it when I tell him I'm content with my job and don't wanna change.

Once I'm done working for money....it will be for a LONG time. Then I'll be working for fun*. When I look back at my life in 50 years I want to say I had a fun life, not a productive life.


*chickens, goats, flowers, veggies, etc.......

steveo73 wrote:

Did wrote:Overachieving is overrated.

Great line.

Especially when you realize/find out that the prize for winning the cake eating contest is "more cake".

@simplelife - such funds to work from home is awesome. I would be happy with two weeks leave for that!

I only get two weeks leave here the first year of working. I can't take any of it until I've worked for 6 months, so I can't take any days off until February. I got sick and took one day off and was yelled at, and cautioned not to get sick again. Consequently, I'm interviewing for other jobs.

At my previous full-time job, I had 5 weeks of leave and no probation. I used to have Wednesdays off, and I would walk along the river with my mom's dog. It was so relaxing. I can't wait until I get a new job!

Did wrote: Overachieving is overrated.

As one of the kids who earned the "Most Likely to Succeed" award during high school, the son who parents who would gripe about me getting a B instead of an A, I honestly agreed with this sentiment. As I get older, running up achievements for the sake of achievement feels like a vain pursuit to inflate the ego, which kind of worries me as it feels...I don't know. Decadent? For the lack of the better term.

denise wrote:I got sick and took one day off and was yelled at, and cautioned not to get sick again. Consequently, I'm interviewing for other jobs.

Good idea. No one should be pressured to work while sick.


For anyone feeling guilt about taking a day off and/or slacking on the job, I suggest picking up this little antidote. It's a great read.