The way I see it is I can slave away at a job I hate to barely afford the things I need to live and be miserable, or I can do away with all of that and still face the same level of uncertainty and miserableness. Might as well make it a bit easier on myself in the process.
I'm a polar opposite from you. I enjoy working and actual feel depressed and anxious when not doing anything. I just have an excess of energy that needs to be spent.
I prefer spending that energy traveling, talking to people and meeting new people, hobbies, and the like. These activities cost money so I'm fine with spending most of my days on a job that will earn me money to at least occasionally do what I love most.
But even without the possibility of doing anything that I truly love I would still have no issue spending 12 hours a day, every day, working. The alternative--not doing anything--horrifies me.
Hustle and bustle is not the only way to do things. Actually frenetic laborious activities might just as well let some people feel like they are wasting their attention.
As the article point, the issue is largely led by a mindset.
I don’t mean one mindset is "better" than the other, but there are more than one way to experience life out there, and not all of them converge to maximize the GDP as an unquestionable holly quest.
But it sounds like you have a lot in savings so maybe it won't be an issue?
OTOH, this is the only thing that consistently breaks me from stagnation.
Why not trying to buy your own land and build a small community around it?
Might be much more fulfilling with very little money required.
I live in Germany and everything just costs money but if you are in the USA, there are plenty of very cheap areas were you can easily life self sustainable?
You can be certain you won’t be able to afford anything, and eventually be in deep shit.