Credit where credit is due: The word vomit below was entirely inspired by a post from @prescriptions_and_paychecks which is one of my favorite FIRE accounts on IG.
@prescriptions_and_paychecks is very busy and hilarious physician assistant, mom, gardener, etc. etc. etc. pursuing FIRE. She documents her family’s journey to FIRE and the everyday things happening along the way. If you’ve made it to this blog/IG account, you probably already follow her. A recent post of hers discussed the change that’s occurred relating to identity and her job.
It came at an interesting time, since I’ve been struggling with my job and the stress level it creates. I lovingly refer to federal employment as the “golden handcuffs” because the benefits are so good, it makes it hard to justify leaving.
Recently, the phrase “my identity is not tied up in this job” has been on pretty constant replay in my head, even before her post. So when that popped up in my feed, it really hit home.
It’s a great topic for discussion, and I wonder how many other FIRE fans feel the same.
I did what any good FIRE IG account manager would do and commented.
She put this into what I thought was such a profound perspective.
Here I am, feeling like less of a person because I’ve lost ambition to climb the corporate ladder. People have asked me what my plans are for promotions, and I just want to yell “I DON’T EVEN CARE ABOUT THIS ANYMORE.” I don’t think that’s a good place to be, but that’s for me to work out until we reach FIRE.
But @prescriptions_and_paychecks is right. Ambition is not just climbing the ladder in your career, and I’m not lazy or useless because I don’t want to be a GS-15. So much of my time and mental energy is now directed towards planning the future and what I WANT to do everyday, not what I have to do.
And I don’t know anyone else in my “real life” that has a net worth like ours at our age or who is as driven as I am to build wealth. So, yes, I’m still motivated and goal-oriented, it’s just with more of a focus on furthering OUR life, not my career with the federal government.
I still need to figure out how to not lose my mind between now and meeting our FIRE goal. That’s for me to figure out in the near future. But the discussion this week between different members of the FIRE community helped shift my perspective on this a bit, and frankly, helped me figure out that I’m not completely a dull and stagnant human. Priorities have just shifted.
Have you noticed a similar change in yourself? Were you hyper-focused on furthering your career before finding FIRE? Has that waned?
-K