I used to be a Software Engineer, but after only a few years sitting at a desk I realized I wanted time a lot more than I wanted money. So I made a choice and left that life.
Since then I've spent 5 years driving through 55 countries (Alaska to Argentina and Around Africa). I've gone on week-long wilderness moose and bison hunting trips near the Arctic Circle, I've played a lot of disc golf, snowboarded many 100 day seasons, hiked for thousands of hours and generally enjoyed a huge amount of "free" time.
I've poked lava with a stick, climbed a 20,000ft active volcano, gone skydiving, got lots of SCUBA certificates, had to veer off road not to hit lions and elephants and met all kinds of interesting people all over the world. I've also published a couple of books and achieved a few life goals like speaking on stage at major events, getting published in magazines I highly respect. All of that was only possible because I had the time.
Of course, I have way less money than I did before. I've spent 6 years of my adult life living in a tent. I've never owned a new phone (actually I've never really had a phone), no tv, basically never buy anything new at all.
I'm also about a thousand times happier than before.
We all have a limited number of hours we get to live, and how you spend them is your choice. I find it's most heavily constrained by how you choose to spend money. If you choose to spend less at every opportunity, that means you'll be able to work a lot less. Find ways to find enjoyment and fulfillment that don't cost money - i.e. a walk in the mountains or throwing the Frisbee instead of a day at Disneyland or going to the movies. These days I "work" something like 10-20 hours a week on my own passion projects, which provides enough money for the lifestyle I want to live (for the last 8 years I've earned around $15k-$20k a year, total)
Don't get me wrong, but in most of the situations, if you are not a Software Engineer, you would not be able to afford to both "leave that life" and "snowboard many 100 day seasons".
I volunteer at the mountain as either ski patrol or a snowboard instructor. I do 13 days of work (almost always before the mountain even opens - setting up signs, fences, shovelling snow, etc.) and then get a free season pass and have no other responsibilities for the year.
Even when buying a pass it's $900 for the year... which means I just pickup 2 weeks of some odd jobs to pay for it.
I bought my snowboard gear around 7 years ago (used).. so at this point it has cost cents per day.
I have no money from "when I was a software engineer", so it's not like I'm living on some big slush fund or something - I just make smart decisions now about how much money I spend, because that directly dictates how much I'll have to go to work.
What about children, if I'm permitted to ask? While there were many who did exactly this with 0-2 year olds (starting with Tony Halik!), I have trouble imagining this for appoximately 3-14 y.o.?
My brother is doing it now very successfully with a 1 year old and a 4 year old. Kids love spending time with their parents - take them to the park, take them to the beach, walking, playing, being outside. None of those things cost any money.
It is simply about being careful how you spend money, because the more you spend, the more you'll have to go to work.
Ah, no, I don't want to take my kids to the local park for days on and on. That's boring. You wrote about "driving through 55 countries", etc, and I'm thinking that if I was doing that with children, I would need to arrange a lot of time alone for myself to stay moderately sane. How to approach that?
Since then I've spent 5 years driving through 55 countries (Alaska to Argentina and Around Africa). I've gone on week-long wilderness moose and bison hunting trips near the Arctic Circle, I've played a lot of disc golf, snowboarded many 100 day seasons, hiked for thousands of hours and generally enjoyed a huge amount of "free" time. I've poked lava with a stick, climbed a 20,000ft active volcano, gone skydiving, got lots of SCUBA certificates, had to veer off road not to hit lions and elephants and met all kinds of interesting people all over the world. I've also published a couple of books and achieved a few life goals like speaking on stage at major events, getting published in magazines I highly respect. All of that was only possible because I had the time.
Of course, I have way less money than I did before. I've spent 6 years of my adult life living in a tent. I've never owned a new phone (actually I've never really had a phone), no tv, basically never buy anything new at all.
I'm also about a thousand times happier than before.
We all have a limited number of hours we get to live, and how you spend them is your choice. I find it's most heavily constrained by how you choose to spend money. If you choose to spend less at every opportunity, that means you'll be able to work a lot less. Find ways to find enjoyment and fulfillment that don't cost money - i.e. a walk in the mountains or throwing the Frisbee instead of a day at Disneyland or going to the movies. These days I "work" something like 10-20 hours a week on my own passion projects, which provides enough money for the lifestyle I want to live (for the last 8 years I've earned around $15k-$20k a year, total)