Forward Looking: Phase I’m out

A little less than a year ago, I posted on this here blog that I planned to FIRE at the end of the year. The ensuing year has been . . . uuummm . . . a little bumpy for the world (looking at you, the ‘rona). My life hasn’t escaped said bumpiness. Some personal health issues here, inflation-fueled higher costs there, and wide-scale global uncertainty both here and there. 

All in all, tho, I have little to complain about. I’m more fortunate than just about the entire rest of the mass of humanity on this big, blue marble called Earth that we’re all floating through space on. And, believe you me, I know it. It’s for this reason as much as anything that I’ve not for a minute wavered in my FIRE plans.

The today show

And, so, here I am. Today, December 30, 2021, marks the official last day of what I’ll call Phase Two of my life. 

Phase One lasted from birth at least until college, and probably through it and law school. Although I had jobs during my college and law school years, I thought of myself as still living within protective cocoons: school and, in part, the ability to call on my parents in a pinch. 

Phase Two was all work and providing for (1) myself, (2) then me and The Missus, (3) then me and The Family. It’s been a long slog. I use the word “slog” deliberately. Unlike those fortunate enough to have always loved their jobs (I envy you folks), my work life was in no small part a slog, even if I rarely actually hated (or even strongly disliked) it. I plan to write more about that in 2022.

So, I’m very much looking forward to Phase Three of my life for many reasons. Here are a few.

Time warp

Essentially for the first time in my life, I’ll be in complete control of my days. No parents or schools to dictate daily agendas for me, as was the case during Phase One. No job with a set work schedule (and an email app on my phone) to largely control my schedule on most weekdays and some nights and weekends, as was the case during Phase Two. That is, unless and until I decide that I want to go back to a full-time job in some part. . . . Which I don’t intend to do anytime soon.

Instead, I’ll spend as much time as it takes in 2022, lifting myself from “the fog of work.” I have no idea how long that’ll take. I hope maybe just a few weeks or a month or two. But, knowing myself, I’m all but certain that that’s wildly wishful thinking. Thankfully, I’m in a position in which I can just say, “so be it.” 

Man, is that liberating.

Happy days are here . . . again

Second, I’m starting phase three at the ripe old age of 50. I’ve read and heard a lot of stories that say that sometime in one’s 50s is when a person’s level of happiness starts to increase from a downward slope that typically starts in one’s 30s and results from increased job and family responsibilities and such, and also from one’s starting to reflect on one’s life to that point. 

I definitely experienced the downward slope during my 30s and 40s, notwithstanding the sincere joy I‘ve gotten from The Missus, Thing One (The Elder), Thing Two (The Younger), and friends and colleagues. I’m not out of the woods on the events of that period. But I’m through a lot. And a heckuva lot wiser about how the world works and how best to handle any number of situations. The coming years promise to be . . . well . . . filled with promise. Not without challenges, pain, and (no doubt) tragedy, I’m wise enough to know. But generally filled with promise. 

That’s spine-tinglingly exciting.

Bucket up

Carl Jensen, aka, Mr. 1500, posted recently about new bucket list items he developed as a result of FIREing. Now, Carl is super-productive in retirement and leagues smarter than me (an incredibly low bar, to be sure . . . but still). So, I won’t share many or any bucket list items with him. Nor may I have as many bucket list items, either. But the idea of having the ability, time, and brain space to develop new bucket list items? Hoo, boy! Now that’s tantalizing. I’ve got a few new bucket list items in mind and surely will think of more in the coming months. 

That promises to be equal parts fun and fulfilling. “Fun” and “fulfilling” just happen to be two of my favorite words.

Given that this is the last day of my life pursuing FIRE, this post necessarily will be the last in my sporadically published “Forward Looking” series of posts. Nothing to look forward to as the future is now the present.

And in the end . . .

So, here’s to Phase Three. I look forward to seeing what it brings. But for now, all I have to say is, I’m out.