[el_chapitan]

I did it.

I was completely burned out. I had actually had a hospital visit due to stress, and ended up still working another 5 months after that (3 of those after I told the company I was quitting and converted to a consultant, working just as many hours but getting paid hourly instead of salary).

The good part there is that I had a nice cushion to land on and do nothing for about a month. At the end of the month I had a little bit of ambition back, and decided to do some small consulting gigs to make the cushion last a bit longer while doing less than full time work. This lasted far longer than I wanted, but unfortunately, I hadn't gotten enough of a client base to kick back into gear when I needed it. Luckily, a long term client showed up right when i needed it, otherwise I'd probably be back having a real job again. I'm much happier with my current arrangement, in that regard.

The lesson to be learned from me? You can head out w/o a plan, but you should probably form one and execute on it while your surviving on your savings.