I used to be afraid to go to the dentist for decades. I believe this became a fear when I broke a few front teeth while practicing ‘high jump’ on a concrete floor as a child, and I had a fear that my front tooth would fall off because it was wobbly. I avoided brushing that tooth and of course that made it worse. Whenever I had to visit a dentist, I cringed.
I finally found a dentist a few years ago that I love. My mouth and my front tooth (which has had two root canals and multiple crowns since that unfortunate incident) are healthy and I look forward to my visits. My dentist and I chit-chat when we met and a few months ago in April, he asked me about my summer plans. I told him that I was granted a full (academic) year sabbatical. I mentioned how I plan to take this time to travel extensively and to live a life free of a schedule. He asked, “But don’t you feel guilty?”
A few years ago, I mentioned to my dentist how I have the summers off. He said, “I wouldn’t know what to do.” This is something recurring I hear. “What would you do” during summers, during a sabbatical (besides research), if I retired early… As if my identity, my hours, my happiness, and my activities are all tied to my profession. For me, a significant portion of my current life IS my profession because it nourishes me by trading my time for dollars and providing me with the purpose of shaping younger minds. While I do not deny the absolute joy when I receive positive feedback from students and colleagues, I can easily fill my hours by not working for dollars, and with equal (or more) sense of purpose.
After all, is the purpose of life to spend the best years of one’s life trading for dollars? Does the real fun begin when one is retired at 65 (or never), almost always less physically fit than when one is 35? What if a person has enough money saved and invested by age 50 that they take money out of the equation and gain 15 years of time to explore a passion, a new skill, a new geographical location, or a business idea they had for years? What if that age is 38? Or 31? FI or FIRE is not just about money or retirement, it’s a whole way of looking at how to explore the few decades of quality life (if fortunate) we all have left.
I am definitely spending my sabbatical free of guilt and full of exploration.
