henry david thoreau took mini retirements. He did what he wanted to do while he was young. He was a product of his time, of course. Industrial work ethic was not the norm. There are no eight-hour jobs. There were only jobs. They get done depening on how much time they need to be done and on the proficiency of the worker. Thoreau didn’t seem to have anys savings. He lived paycheck to paycheck. But this also made him live in the present moment. It made him focus on the things he really wanted to do. He worked when he needed money, then travelled for two months or more when he had the resources already.
At the end of his life, he perhaps is making money from passive book royalties which could have placed him in a better financial situation, which he deserved given the all the hard work he did.
Living is indeed the art of counterbalancing between working for an unseen future and remembering that any day could be our last.
Thoreau died at a very young age. But he accomplished a lot because he focused on his art.