to feel like I'm in prison?

I am going to take a year long sabbatical in about a years time and I'm hoping that it will go well enough to convince my husband to make it permanent

Will your husband have to keep working to fund your permanent sabbatical? What happens if he decides he would also like to take a sabbatical?

Hard to advice when the OP hasn't given any details about her life. Children, pension, requirements etc.

This is great advice, yes 👍

Becoming someone's trophy wife might be an option if you are thin, attractive and well groomed, but you wouldn't have much autonomy. You would need to fall in with your husband's choices about where you lived, went on holiday etc. and who you associated with. You would need to maintain your appearance and provide a high standard of housekeeping. Even if you conscientiously did all that, you could find yourself being traded in for a newer model at any time.

I think YANBU at all, and I personally think it's a tragedy that so many people of our generation (we're roughly the same age) feels this way. I'm sorry, OP. I hope you find a way to feeling more freedom in your life 🙏💐🍀

Sorry but this is so patronising. People are allowed to express discontent with giving so much of their life to paid work just to afford the basic essentials. And there are other ways, so it is worth talking about.

Are you married? Would you consider marrying a rich guy?
Where I live, there are plenty of women who don’t work & have a lovely lifestyle, paid for by their husband. They seem happy!

As a person who comes from a culture where women were not allowed to work until recently, I think my kids are lucky.

When you have kids you are condemning them to 40+ years of work. They didnt choose it. They may like their work or they may hate it. It's a cheerful thought!

Yes, I agree. Which is why I haven't done it!

I have the perfect job for you. Become a Disney Princess. Honey, most people dislike working full time & would prefer to not. But, you know, life, responsibilities etc.

Ultimately though you have to think of pensions, a house in old age and ensuring you can afford any health issues in the future.

Well I work x3 12.5 hour shifts. But that means start to finish my days are 15 hours long, which is brutal in its own way. You get more days off but the exhaustion is more pronounced from the days you work.

The only solution is to find a job you enjoy to make it more bearable.

I get it it totally OP. I HATE working mainly because it just takes up so much time.

I am going to take a year long sabbatical in about a years time and I'm hoping that it will go well enough to convince my husband to make it permanent. I'm allowed by my company to work part time in a minimum wage type job.

I also completely understand your living in a tent comment. I've thought about it many times! I read an article about a woman who developed a mysterious "allergic to modern life" illness and in desperation her boyfriend took her camping in national parks in the US (not sure what the inital rationale was) and she slowly started to recover. I want that.

Move to Thailand or a similar low cost Asian country on a global nomad visa and live off your savings or whatever work you can pick up there. You won't die of hypothermia.

I understand where you are coming from. There isn't any life balance for many of us in the UK. Hence, it feels like slavery. Unfortunately, it will not improve. The government needs you to be where you are - they need cheap labour who are too preoccupied with just barely surviving. Inflation is a tool used to control and to transfer wealth from one pocket to another.

I think I get it. In my early 30s I hit a real fatigue and became quite depressed thinking I would never feel free until I'm late 60s. Holidays didn't really feel like a break because work was always waiting for me. I guess I was lucky because I had the option of becoming a SAHM which I did but it's still hard work with little reward and they were particularly chaotic exhausting years anyhow. I work PT in a job i enjoy now while kids are at school but it goes no where because I'm not FT. I have never felt like i reached my potential and I feel like I had so much to give.

I hear what you're saying.
It's a bit like Groundhog day - and 5 days "trapped at a desk" with the weekend off.

And still many years to go.

We only have 1 life - and have to make the most of it.

I used to feel like you OP, I worked full time in my 20's and early 30's and felt tired, stressed and low level miserable all the time. I then took a few years out to care for my father who had dementia - 24 hour caring for someone is a whole other type of stress, but at least it was rewarding. After he died I went back to work, but I only work 3 days a week now. Even though the job I do isn't my dream role (I'm one of those that doesn't have a dream job), I enjoy it because my colleagues are lovely and I get a proper break from it.

It has been transformative for me. I won't be having any fancy holidays anytime soon, and don't have much disposable income but I have plenty of time.

I know it may not be possible for everyone, but is there any way you could reduce your outgoings, and drop to a 4 day week to give you more of a balance? Even if it means moving to a cheaper area or something. When I worked full time, I used to splurge on payday and buy stuff I didn't want or need, because it gave me a boost. Now I don't need to do that anymore.

This is a great point. When I divorced I valued my job so much as it enabled me to take on the mortgage, use credit, etc. Even though at times it was hard, sometimes got no sleep etc .Not working and relying on benefits must be terrifying and removes a lot of choices.

A van would be more comfortable than a tent. Is there any way you could make that happen for a year to reassess what you want in life? I’m assuming you don’t have kids.

You could massively downsize your life in terms of costs - get a tinyhouse, look at how you could live more cheaply in terms of energy and food production.

Then you don't need to work full time

In the time you have free cultivate something you love doing that can be turned into money and then take it from there

We aren't really designed to work like how you describe. I bet once you are in control of your life, time and income your work will become good and rewarding

It's the fxxxxng pointlessness of most jobs and how you can just scrape a life that does most people in.

Find ways around it. Good luck 🍀

When my daughter was out of school for MH, I faced the very real possibility of never working again. It was terrifying. No choice over where I lived, benefits stopped at a moments notice, no money to buy anything that wasn't a necessity. No choice even over even if my daughter went to a school she liked or a school she hated. Is that what you want, OP? No autonomy.

Some people are very very lucky and find something to get paid for that barely feels like work, I am not saying I would carry on doing my job if I won the lottery and I have done jobs in the past that I have't enjoyed but I would say that I really really love my job around 80-90% of the time.
I am SE though which I think can make a huge difference

Welcome to late-stage capitalism. I work to eat and pay the bills. I quite like having electricity and running water. I'd suck at living in a tent.