I’ve been practicing FIRE my whole life and I just didn’t know it..

I’m 38 years old, female, single sole proprietor. I’ve been grinding and saving my whole life. I have a bit odd and niche job that I started when I was 15. I am a taxidermist .. yes, I stuff animals. What may sound like a weird basement job, has been extremely lucrative to me. I have focused on the artistic aspect of it, creating high quality creations that outshine the average and with the creation of a social media page that put my work out to the world, it just really exploded.

I worked so hard in my 20’s and early 30’s. Somehow raised two kids while never slowing down. It takes guts to be self employed and hold yourself to the grind. 40 hours a week, minimum, for me to not feel bad on myself. 50-55 if I could pull it off. I have the tendency to base my value on the amount of work I have done. The more tired, the more sore I was, the more I felt like I deserved to breathe.

Somewhere in the last couple years, I snapped. I don’t want to do it any more. I guess it’s because I’ve been at it 25 years. It’s a struggle to even go out to my shop any more. I make great money so I feel bad to complain.

I used to feel invincible, immortal. A recent health scare involving precancerous cells really changed my perspective. I just want to spend more time with my family. My dogs. I want to walk in the woods. I’m very into nature, but I’ve seen so little of it. The biggest challenge of retirement is going to be telling myself it’s OK to not do something at times.

I’ve got a nest egg of 650k. Mostly liquid up the this point, in HYSA’s (I know, ridiculous). I’m getting ready to invest a large portion in the market. My house has 230k left on it, that’s my only debt. At a 2.9% interest rate, I’m not interested in paying it off. With my other assets I have a net worth of about 850k.

If I was just a little older, I’d throw in the towel but it’s just too soon. I just don’t want to do this 40 hours a week any more.

I think I can drop to 20 hours a week and still pull 50-60k net a year easily. I live in a very low cost area. If I watch my spending, which I’ve always been very thrifty, my monthly expenses can be as low as around 3k.

I’m just scared to do this! I always imagined I would just work til I was in my 60’s. I now realize I am not going to be able to do that. My psyche won’t take it. I have high blood pressure, anxiety and bipolar. I’ve never let it slow me down work wise. I just power through no matter how I feel like I am going to die. It’s amazing how my chest feels like I can breathe when I have a slower work week.

With the numbers I’ve given, do you think it is safe to work part time for another decade and I could possibly stop entirely at 50 and just enjoy nature and the silence of a calm brain?