It’s FIRE time (?)
Hello! It’s been a while.
If you remember my last post, I was actually mentally struggling after starting a new job?
So, the update is… I quit my job :D. It’s been about 2 months off work now and I think it’s good to write through the things I remember from the last 2 months before I totally forget.
What’s the trigger?
I didn’t quit impulsively.
I actually struggled for another quarter or so trying to see all the positives there is with the work (and there are a lot). What I struggled with more was trying to find a reason why quitting was justified… because there was no "socially acceptable" reason to do so, at least not with that role.
The role paid well, the workload was good, it was remote work, and the people were nice.
But I was just... tired.
I didn’t want to admit it, but my mental health was declining. I realised I had never really taken the time to deal with my grief after losing my lovely dog, and almost losing another the following year in an incident that also sent both me and my partner to hospital.
The human brain is fascinating. In the busyness of my own mind and obsession for more, I somehow managed to distract myself again from the fact that time is precious and limited.
I also noticed that I was starting to lose that optimism about what life would be like after work is done. I was slipping into this "meh" feeling, thinking it might not be too bad to just keep enduring as long as I'm paid for it.
That was not the mindset I wanted to stay in.
Then another thing happened.
We had a sudden loss in our close-knit dog community. The news came through around midnight, the night before I was due to fly out for a work team day. The next morning, I was at the airport on the phone with my friend and a few others. We were all crying, full of tears and snot, while I waited to board.
It was another harsh reminder of how short their lives are, and how nothing is ever guaranteed. My oldest dog is already 12 years old and, statistically speaking, there are really not many years left.
And so, after all the obsession with numbers, the multiple scenarios I asked ChatGPT and Gemini, and the dozens of little tweaks I put into the Rich, Broke or Dead? calculator, I finally asked myself:
What is it that I want to feel?
How would I like to feel when I look back?
The answer was:
I want to feel safe to jump without knowing everything.
I want to know I can let go of some control and still land fine on the other side.
I want to look back at myself and say, "Yeah, those worries about everything falling apart were a bit silly. We are good."
And unfortunately for me, those are not feelings I can think myself into.
Some vantage points can only be fully experienced once you're on the other side.
And so I quit.
People at work were lovely and they understood how important mental health is, so the worry about burning bridges might have been overblown in my mind too.
First Few Days and First Few Weeks
The first few days without work were completely uneventful. It was just quiet. There was no need for me to wake up at a certain time, and there were no emails or meetings to attend to. It felt slightly weird because I thought I was supposed to be doing something, but there was really nothing I had to do.
By the first few weeks, I started to get used to things.
I noticed this subtle but clear feeling of relief when Monday came and I didn’t need to get mentally ready.
It was also a bit uncanny because there is no ‘end date’. I have never had a break or been in between jobs without having something to go back to. And it is somewhat freeing? Part of me noticed that I don't feel the need to cram everything in my to do list within X days or X weeks, like I used to do when I took annual leave.
It is a bit hard to describe, but I also felt this general relief from not having to “brace for impact” just to turn up at work.
I realised that the job.exe program (taking computer language here) that I thought would be terminated during holidays actually never got turned off. That program had been running 24/7 for however many years I’ve been working. It just didn't take up as much bandwidth when I was on a break because holiday.exe and other programs resurfaced.
The first few weeks were busy, though. I sold one of my investments so that I can reinvest and be fully ready for my retirement (still weird to call it that, maybe I will stick with “break” for now). I was happy with the sale although it wasn't a record-breaking price (hey, who doesn’t want a record-breaking price? 😉).
But then the Budget 2026 announcement happened, and in hindsight, I think I made the best decision I could make at the time. The property market slowed down right after. Not because people can’t buy, but because uncertainty is always worse than the actual changes.
Two Months into FIRE
So, while waiting for the finalisation of the Budget 2026 changes, I thought I'd write and share how the first two months of FIRE have been going so far 🤔
For those who just want the TL;DR: Retirement has been good so far, with life simply taking up more space.
For me, the first month felt quite slow as the adrenaline left my system, but the second month seems to have flown by.
A few things I've found interesting (for me, anyway):
Without work, what's left is... life?
I've always wondered whether I'd feel like something was missing without work.
So far, I don't.
And I thought, so… without work, what's left is... life?
It feels a bit like looking into a glass room where I'm no longer a participant in the meeting, but I still fully remember what it felt like to be there. Part of me misses the feeling of productivity, while another part is disillusioned because so much of the corporate experience now feels a little bit like make-believe.
I don't feel bored
There's always something to do, and they're not even "new" things.
We still have to decide what to eat for dinner every day. The dogs still need caring for. I love reading and can now spend hours doing it.
This week alone involved three separate vet appointments, each with about two hours of return travel. We just did them without rushing. No trying to fit everything around meetings or work schedules.
It sounds mundane, but I love it.
It feels like life is allowed to take up as much space as needed instead of everything being an efficiency exercise.
I remember often feeling frustrated when I didn't do anything different or exciting during a day off because I felt like I was wasting it. Even relaxing had to be efficient. It was only after fully stopping work that I realised how ridiculous that was.
Like, hey, go relax... but do it FAST.
Being available feels underrated
I love that I can be more available now.
A family member had a medical emergency recently and I was glad that we could just go and visit. We can even offer to take them to appointments if they need it.
We were also able to visit interstate friends at a time that suited them, rather than trying to juggle annual leave.
The flexibility itself feels like luxury.
The finance side feels stranger than the lifestyle side
The finance side still feels a bit awkward because the cash flow is less regular with no regular paycheck and watching money go out.
I'm currently between dividend payments, although I still have rental income and savings interest coming in. At the same time, some larger annual expenses have landed like rego and car insurance. I think it'll take me a while to get used to the new pace.
It also feels a little like limbo at the moment because I'm holding off reinvesting some cash until the proposed tax changes become clearer.
That said, savings interest rates are decent, so it's not terrible timing.
Looking back at my old salary feels weird
It sounds silly, but I was looking back at my old employment income and thinking:
Wow, that could fund a lot of nice holidays.
The dogs could have more regular grooming appointments.
I'd have plenty of discretionary spending money.
Then, almost in the same thought, came the realisation that if I were still working full-time, I wouldn't actually have the time or freedom to fully enjoy much of it anyway.
So far...
Retirement doesn't feel like some dramatic new life full of excitement.
It mostly feels like, "Ah, this is how life is supposed to be."
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