A woman who ditched her job for early retirement aged 54 due to “burnout” refuses to lie in and still wakes up at 5 a.m. every day.
Jeanne Thompson, 56, quit her six-figure corporate job as a senior vice president at a financial service in December 2021 — as she was struggling with being on Zoom for seven hours a day.
She was experiencing burnout — a state of complete mental, physical, and emotional exhaustion — and after working full-time from home during the pandemic, she didn’t want to go back to the office.
The mom-of-two decided to ditch corporate life for early retirement — six years before she was due to retire — but felt “lost” in her first year jobless as she had no hobbies and lost her daily structure.
But Jeanne soon realized the possibilities and has now traveled to South East Asia and plans to travel to the Caribbean and Mediterranean, too.
She has joined sports clubs and picked up part-time work as a consultant for 10 hours a week.
Despite no longer needing to wake up early for her commute, Jeanne continues to rise at 5 a.m.
Jeanne, from Naples, Florida, US, said: “I tried not getting up early in the first few months, however I felt awful.
“It sounds fun lying in, but when you do it every day, you feel life is wasting away.”
“It just works for me.”
“It feels like I am still young enough — I don’t want to be wasting my life away.”
Jeanne had been working in the corporate world for three decades when she decided she couldn’t stick it out any longer in December 2021.
Jeanne — is married to Robert, 55, now semi-retired but who used to work as a chemical distributor, and mum to Ellie, 25, and Andy, 23 — said: “When I first retired I never realized my identity was so tied down to my job.
“I struggled with lack of structure I didn’t have any hobbies.
“I was so lost for probably the first year. I felt like I lost my purpose.”
Jeanne left her role after growing sick of the 60-mile commute to Boston, Massachusetts — where her office was.
She would spend three hours each day in the car.
Jeanne said: “I would get up at 4:30 a.m. to commute into Boston. I would then work all day and wouldn’t get back till 6:30 p.m.
“It was exhausting — it felt like such a waste of time.”
“Covid gave me a break from the business travel, but when restrictions started to lift I couldn’t do it, I didn’t want to do it.
“I wanted to become a normal person again.
“I wanted to explore other things and get back in touch with myself, I knew it was what I needed.”
Due to the long commute, Jeanne wasn’t able to attend all of her children’s events growing up — missing sporting events and parent and teacher conferences.
“Parts of my children’s life that I wasn’t aware of — their friends, hobbies, schooling — sometimes I would book days off.”
“We would rely on grandparents.”
“As I got older I wanted to be there for them — there is still a lot of parenting to do for them.”
Jeanne was in a lucky position to retire due to the savings she combined with her husband, Robert.
During the first year of retirement, Jeanne struggled without a job, and she tried to find her feet again by going to social events and meeting new people – before embarking on travels.
Jeanne said: “I had always wanted to go to those countries.
“I wanted to see and understand the culture, to get out in the world and live life and to experience different food and different activities.
“I want to have a good world view and understanding to get a bigger picture.”
Jeanne has a trip planned to the Bahamas in February and is looking to go to the Mediterranean and Africa next.
Jeanne’s lifestyle has changed, but she still chooses to get up early in the morning — at 5 a.m. daily.
She has also joined two pickleball sports teams and plays twice a week.
Since retiring, she was also offered a part-time job in consulting — where she does five to 10 hours a week.
She said: “I get up at 5 a.m. every day.
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“I am very active in the morning.
“I will go play pickable — I do that six or seven times a week.
“I usually spend three or four hours a day consulting and then I will do errands.
“I like to be busy, I like a lot of structure.
“I am trying to be better about lifting weights and doing yoga.
“You need to structure your day and build a network of friends.
“People that are wanting to retire, it can be scary.”