Comment by jandrewrogers
3 days ago
This is entirely within the scope of "recreationally employed". There is no implication that what you spend your time on has anything to do with your former career.
In most cases I know of recreational employment has little to do with their former employment. They often put in a lot of hours and it is still "work" in the ordinary sense but it is entirely self-directed.
I believe it's a misuse of "employment" then, I do not understand employment as something you do without payment, to me it is necessarily related to paid labour.
If you obligate yourself to significant and consistent labor when no such thing is necessitated by your life then you are effectively "employed". You have to show up. Absent external motivation, like feeding your family or staying out of prison, it is purely a lifestyle choice. It is the opposite of playing video games all day or sitting at the beach.
The FIRE types are not working to survive by definition, allowing them to work at non-profits for a pittance, run a farm with no meaningful market, do thankless maintenance on FOSS, or travel around the world saving the whales. The lack of a meaningful paycheck doesn't make these things not "jobs" for all practical purposes.