I think the critique is that you should be perfectly able to do all those thing and more, while working, if you have a job that properly respects work/life balance. On the other hand, if you spend a decade or two constantly grinding on work at the expense of all else, so that when you’re 40 you can do those things, you might find that your body isn’t up for the task.
No, you cannot do all those things and more while working. You can't even get a taste, it's more akin to looking through a store window.
It's not possible to fully experience a foreign country/culture in a 1 week vacation.
No idea about surfing, but it's not possible to even get a sense of what skiing has to offer in a couple of weekends a year.
Maybe, for a few people, it's possible to find the motivation and energy to fully immerse yourself in working on your own software after already having put in a full day of work, but they are in a tiny minority.
Perhaps, but it's about tradeoffs. If you retire in your late 50s or 60s, your body is into decline at that point, however fit your lifestyle has been. The goal of early retirement is about being free of the need to put in time for somebody else's business while you're still in a condition to lead an active lifestyle doing things that you enjoy doing.
I have friends who retired at age 25. Retiring early should be the number one focus you have in your life. Everything else is bullshit, noise and propoganda.
Then what? Three options: never work; work for yourself; work for someone else. Each has its costs and benefits. To assume that one path is the ideal state for absolutely everyone is naïveté beyond belief.
Sure. But then you are making a decision based truely on what you want to do with your life. Not the same as people working for a company because they have to and that's their only way to survive.
