I understand the bordem argument but I think that sort of boredom is socially conditioned on us. During my time at university I worked almost constantly. I remember after graduating and getting a job only working 8-hours a day, I suddenly found myself with excess fee time I didn't know what to do with. I distinctively remember my first day returning from work, that I got home and was lost: what do I want to do (not what do I need to do or should do)? I have no papers or assignments due tomorrow. No major project efforts weeks behind I'm trying to catch up on, no looming deadlines, no new tech I need to learn to be ready for the next job, etc.
I came to the realization that I was bored and didn't know what to do because I was conditioned to be constantly busy working, largely for other people and not myself --from my parents, church, schooling, society, and so on. A goal can be for yourself but often the processes to attain said goals are for other people. I chose to do certain aspects because they were interesting but it was more so because I needed to, had to or should do to get to my goal.
I believe most people don't need work to find value in life, they need the time to discover what it is they value, the basic resources to pursue it, and ability to live decently while doing it. Unfortunately, we have an economic system that doesn't really allow for that. There is some choice in our economic system but for many, that choice is an illusion or at best, heavily constrained.
I believe we need to move away from this work tied to life value concept, but I believe too many people currently rely on exploiting this concept to have others create value for themselves while constantly selling the idea of work giving purpose in life so they can pursue their goals without working. The issue isn't that work exists and is needed to maintain certain structure to society, it's more that it's used as shackles on many.
Like what?
As to things I've never done but wanted to explore: carpentry. Woodworking always fascinated me and I'd love to try and learn enough to make some furniture for myself, friends, and family, perhaps because this is somethonf my father was skilled at. Could be something I try, hate, and never pursue but the time isn't there.
I do not get bored when I have free time, I always have ideas (and to be clear, motivation to actually act and pursue them--these aren't just 'ideas' they are actualized), unfortunately I have to choose the ones that fit in small time blocks or have the energy after a grueling intense week of dealing with complex yet nonsensical problems at work.
It’s not that simple. I felt the same way before I crossed the FIRE threshold and took some time off (mini-FIRE, I guess).
It turns out, most of the things I had been putting off weren’t as time consuming as I thought. I found myself regretting not doing many of them sooner, such as putting a few hours in on weekdays and weekends or scheduling a 1-week vacation to make a trip happen.
It’s hard to truly understand until you’ve crossed the threshold and tried it, but there’s a certain aspect of FIRE discussions that divides life too much into pre-retirement and post-retirement activities in a way that isn’t always necessary. In retrospect, there was little stopping me from doing most of the things I wanted to do while I was working, and plenty of people do manage to accomplish a balance of work and other things just fine.
I’m not alone in this. Even the author of this blog later returned to work after his interest in his writing hobby slowed to a crawl, his friendships started dwindling, and his relationship came to an end at least in part due to the FIRE lifestyle: https://livingafi.com/2021/03/17/the-2021-early-retirement-u...
When I say I have projects I know I'll never do, I'm talking about the kinds of things that range from "will probably take several years" to "might not be completable in the lifetime I have remaining". Even if each of those things takes an eighth of the time I think they will, I still easily have enough to fill up the rest of my life even if I never do anything purely for the enjoyment of it.
It is. I took about 18 months off a few years ago. It was great until I ran out of money.
My main motivator was a very big project (converting a bus to live in) that took a lot of time but after that was done I still did lots of other projects, played video games, and traveled.
In some ways I missed contributing my skills to a team but, other than needing money, I wasn't strongly motivated to go back to work.
I also took a lot of time off, albeit after crossing the threshold of FIRE. My comment was coming from a position of someone who has achieved FIRE.
I have more projects than I would have time if I FIREd. I think the main thing is you have to be some form of maker, you can't be just a consumer.
I have so many things I want to build (eg my next vehicle conversion) and a lot of software projects. Then there's the list of things I'd like to learn and places I want to visit.
When my dad retired he actually got busier than when he worked full time. He literally has enough projects to last the rest of his life.
And e.g. in college/HS, my results were pretty mediocre (ok, I still got mostly As, but just barely ;)) because I used my "genetic privilege" and built-up "capital" from SOME hard work, I guess, to do the minimum for an A/B, then maximized the time to pursue my own projects or just goof off. I could have probably been a straight-A student but it just never motivated me. In a twisted way in college, it actually helped me professionally, I spent so much time goofing off I realized I have enough time to have a job at the same time :)
I understand not everyone is like that (my wife instantly gets antsy and/or sad without some purpose or if she has a lot of free time), but I'm pretty sure I could fill a few decades at least with each of the things I want to do more, ranging from outdoors to cooking to playing ironman roguelikes to coding... with all of them I could fill centuries if I had the cashflow ;)
Being in tech, I've had the privilege to be able to quit my job every few years and take extended sabbaticals. Without fail those breaks have been the best times of my life. Even when I just spent the time "doing nothing" from the point of view of an outsider - not taking up a new hobby, not working on any personal projects, not operating a side-hustle, just sitting around watching the world go by... it was fine. It was better than fine - it was great. It seems bizarre to me that anyone would prefer structured labor to that kind of freedom, but it turns out some people do.
I just wish we had a society that would allow for both types of people to have the life they want.
Most people don't get any useful amount of actual free time until they retire. No wonder so many are lost when they do. They've had no practice at it, and have had all their time-requiring interests beaten out of them over decades of the work-week utterly dominating the rhythms of their life.
There are so many things I like to do or would love to do if I didn’t ha RTP work, but I doubt it would be maintainable in the sort of withdraws I see early FIRE people talk about taking. I often have problems figuring out how to afford my hobbies while working.
However, I would say that some things on the list turn out to be false. That is, I like the idea of doing them, but not enough to actually do it. So do account for some of your post FIRE ideas turning out to be just daydreams you aren't actually committed to.
I know this feeling of the idea of doing them. I'm conflicted about art (drawing, painting). In some way, I want to be a good painter, on the other hand, there is no painting in me that needs to come out.
Obviously not everyone has problems filling their time. But for most people it's difficult to imagine what it'd take to fill years worth of free time, when they've never experienced anything close to having to do that.
I’ve saved enough to have multiple year breaks in my career and not once was I at a loss for something to do. Quite the opposite, it was apparent exactly how much of my life was being wasted on goals I found uninteresting (at best), all in the name of not starving to death or living on the street.