It's really tiring to read two posters who create wall of text posts.

if you want to work so be it. boom you are no longer retired.. end of story. you are now employed and not part of f.i.r.e
debate ended(not sure why you are even debating going back to work in a f.i.r.e topic while still pretending you want to be in f.i.r.e)
can i just say, even bill gates, elon musk, warren buffet are at ultimate FU status, but because they choose to work they are not in f.i.r.e
if your mindset either worries about money or you choose to work as a hobby or to afford shiny things. you cant be in f.i.r.e.
the acronym is pretty clear about what defines f.i.r.e.. and when you are finally ready for f.i.r.e, you'll know it
I like this point, just like I mentioned above, technically I can retire now in minimalist lifestyle, but I'm still continue to work. My worries are in two thing, first is money and second is my ability.
No one can know what will happen to me in the future, if I get fatal disease, I might not be in FIRE status anymore because I need to pay health care (not everything will be covered by insurance).
The second is, I like to train myself to be the best, this also make me can decrease the chance of getting Alzheimer because I always learn something everyday.
So yeah, FIRE is not for me, but I believe both of them are good choices, the only bad choice is choose to FIRE but didn't have enough money (become homeless and get donation/help from government to survive).