Basic stuff: male, 38. 30X annual expenses invested. First child expected in July.
I've long been an admirer of ERE, say 2015, or so. I must report that I have failed several times at my attempts at life-style experiments. I am not INTJ, but I do lack in social skills.
In a 4 year-period, starting in 2016, I attempted and abandoned:
* a semi-retirement (9 months)
* mini-retirement 1 (6 months)
* mini-retirement 2 (6 months -- thought it was going to be a semi-retirment
I won't call the whole process a waste, as each time I got back to work, I learned how to deal with it better, and each time I took the mini/semi retirement I was a bit better at it. I just thought that I might as well work as I had no real ability to self-direct my time in a way that doesn't lead to isolation and depression.
But having a child on the way gives me a reason to actually examine these things and see what shape I want life to have. I tentatively plan on taking a child-rearing sabbatical starting in two years that I think will last two or three years. This gives something to save and strategize for. I plan to keep a journal here as a free hobby and for accountability purposes.
Hello from Candide
Re: Hello from Candide
Welcome candide, I think it's great that you already have experience in structuring your life without work during your sabaticals. Will you be getting paternity leave after your child is born?
Re: Hello from Candide
@fiby41
My wife and I are both teachers and our child is due in July, so we'll both be off for a bit, but it wouldn't be wise to take time off at the beginning of a school year as it is an important time for laying down rules and routines so the year goes better.
This is one of the big reasons my wife is taking the year off. She doesn't want to big gone some, and then get off on a bad foot from being run down, She derives a lot of meaning from her career, but that ship sailed for me years ago, when family members started passing away.
I suppose I can look at my previous experiences as practice, but up until now it was a sore spot, as I felt like a failure.
My wife and I are both teachers and our child is due in July, so we'll both be off for a bit, but it wouldn't be wise to take time off at the beginning of a school year as it is an important time for laying down rules and routines so the year goes better.
This is one of the big reasons my wife is taking the year off. She doesn't want to big gone some, and then get off on a bad foot from being run down, She derives a lot of meaning from her career, but that ship sailed for me years ago, when family members started passing away.
I suppose I can look at my previous experiences as practice, but up until now it was a sore spot, as I felt like a failure.