Life is grand! I reflect back on a note placed in a report card by my first teacher; "...a bright and happy child..."
After all that education, we ended our careers early a few years ago. Expenses are now low. For example, our truck will cross 350K miles any day now and a fund has been set aside for it's eventual replacement. In the meantime, it gets routine maintenance. Other vehicles sit in storage, used rarely. Health has been good so far aside from typical aging. Thankfully, knees and back are holding up well. Investments are following our plan and barely need to be touched except for IRA withdrawals and ROTH conversions. Plans for travel continue. There is always a project around the house to work on. A few mystery shops along the way.
Sadly there have been people along the way who got absorbed by substance abuse. Or mental health issues. Or people who developed spendthrift ways and racked up debt. There's been no success in helping people with said issues. At best it just delays the inevitable. Once a person "adopts" one of these life paths, a "philosophy" that just doesn't work, their "policy" is a dead end. Over the years, it's the saddest thing to witness or hear. We prefer rules, guidelines, order, and routines that have been proven to work.
In all, for us, early retirement has been very successful. Enjoying the journey. With gratitude. I hope you all are too and figured out your own path. Still "bright and happy."