💐 flowers for everyone feeling less than content with their lot. I bet every single one of you has reasons for why you're where you are and you shouldn't be ashamed of any of it - especially if it's been because you've been raising children, caring for others, been badly let down or faced barriers such as lack of money, etc.
I'm 49. Very content with my lot. Nearly 20 years ago though I became a homeless single parent to 4-month-old twins thanks to domestic abuse. The comeback from that was hard and slow and very delayed. For the first 5 years it was all about survival. As things started to improve I started reflecting on my life and future and had something of an early midlife crisis. It led me to take a big gamble and retrain. It paid off and I've trebled my income and have a successful career.
However - and I cannot overstate the importance of this - I was able to achieve this because I had several advantages many people don't have.
Firstly a good education that opened the retraining door. I didn't need to get an access course or anything first. That gave me options.
Secondly a network of friends that allowed me to cover childcare at antisocial hours (my chosen career involved shifts). I don't have family so without these wonderful people I could not have done this.
Thirdly, items of value I could sell which subsidised my income for a few years. Without that my change of career would not have been viable as it was unaffordable to feed the kids and pay my bills on the training and starting salary.
Meanwhile, my X, who physically abused me and has never really done more than the bare minimum job wise, was able to afford holidays and all sorts without any real sacrifice to his life whatsoever. He never paid maintenance and hasn't actually seen his DC since they were 2.
It taught me many things. Where you are in life has as much to do with circumstances as it does hard work and determination and women (and the occasional man) have additional barriers because they retain the bulk of caring responsibilities.
All that said, however, if you want to make a change, and can, it's never too late. My latest career change was at 46. Someone I know did it at 55 and I went to university with someone in their 70s!
Contentment IMO comes down to feelings of fulfilment and being valued. Many of us mistakenly equate that to a fancy job title or salary, but it doesn't have to be at all. Volunteering or a hobby you become good at is just as valuable. What it does require though is the capacity to carve out a bit of time to put yourself first. If that doesn't exist, some bigger questions need to be addressed.