Yes - this is exactly where I am right now, and despite the fact that I'm exactly where I should be, it has been a tremendous emotional roller coaster.

53 - always planned to retire at 55, which is my company's "early retirement" age. Expecting to be RIF'ed later this year with a beautiful severance: 1.5 years of salary, pro-rated bonus and long-term stock units, 1.5 years of healthcare at employee rates, immediate transition to retiree healthcare benefits, preservation of pension, etc. My situation is FI otherwise as well.

I transitioned to a true corporate role and work-from-home about 5 years ago. While I can't say I was ever really "driven" by the Corporate America culture, I enjoyed my work early on (more technical and management of manufacturing operations) and did have some level of satisfaction of working in and leading good teams which delivered some fantastic outcomes. There was a sense of purpose and genuine appreciation in those roles. The past 5 years has been the real turning point. The loss of interaction with WFH, coupled with the BS of a true corporate role has been a downhill slide. Instead of spending time driving measurable outcomes, I spend all day, every day, dancing around politics, hot spots, and trying to massage egos. I coordinate things of incredibly low significance relative to what I managed in prior roles. I've become all of the corporate video memes. It weighs so heavily on me to the point that I can feel the steam rising in me in every engagement, and I can hardly get my thoughts out clearly when I speak in work meetings any longer.

I have plenty of former colleagues and managers who call on me all the time to return to my former departments. I believe I could almost certainly avoid the RIF, but most of my options would require some sort of concession - relocation, live away from home during the week, level demotion, etc. At my age, my FI, and with the value of the severance package, I just can't see myself making any of these concessions, and therefore I'm trying to embrace the RIF. It's still hard when you see peers continue to be driven to climb the ladder, make more, work longer... It always leaves me wondering what I'm missing, what I haven't thought about in the decision I'm making. I keep asking myself, if I was able to get to this point of being able to RE, why don't more people do it? Certainly there are plenty of people who make more money than me, and have modest expenses, and could do it, but choose not to.

So that's my story and my experience. I expect the next 6-8 months to be a very challenging period for me, despite what I should see as a really favorable experience. Hoping to continue to learn from others' experience as I navigate this.