Things like reading HN, such great articles, most of which I don't need to know, but fascinating none the less. Sometimes someone will not like a reply I made, who cares? (I do love the replies!) I'm not asking for anything, I'm just being.
The best part, however, is that I can suck at everything. When I had a job I felt a ton of responsibility to meet a high standard in everything I was paid to do, but now I can afford being an absolutely moronic beginner at everything I attempt, because ultimately it doesn't matter. It's liberating.
Do you think you could’ve learned to not feel that? I feel fine doing an OK job as long as my OK is the standard my employer expects.
I have a rather anxious response to work, probably because of how much was at stake earlier in my career. I was an immigrant with a flimsy work permit that meant if I lost my job I would have to move to another country, with the added stress of being the only income in our family with no real prospect of my wife being able to find a job that would cover our expenses either. We couldn't count on anybody else helping us out either.
It was a lot of pressure, and my fear-driven response was to work as hard as possible and save as much as possible. I got lucky and ended up effectively retiring at the age of forty. Do I recommend it? No, it was a pretty miserable experience. But those were my circumstances and I did what I thought was best for us.
<It's like a prolonged weekend> I tell my friends it feels like I'm getting away with something!
For example, I can afford to be a lousy jogger, because nothing bad is going to happen if I don't become faster. I couldn't afford to be a lousy engineer, because my family could end up homeless in a foreign country. That was the reality I lived at the beginning of my career.
Due to family circumstances i had to take "retirement" from the industry for the past decade and focus my life on care-giving. So w.r.t. studying Philosophy/Science/Technology/etc. i have been in this mode for a while and it has been quite enjoyable intellectually. Nassim Taleb in one of his books calls himself a "Flaneur"(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fl%C3%A2neur) which i think perfectly embodies this mindset i.e. a intellectual stroller/dilettante interested in anything/everything, cursorily exploring/diving deep into whatever takes his fancy and in general being an observer rather than a participant. The goal (if any) is knowledge for knowledge's sake and not money/job/status/etc.
One suggestion i have for your retirement is to buy lots of books on any/every topic that catches your fancy. Books are cheap, last forever, helpful to the next generation and intellectually rewarding at many levels.