To have lost interest in working after 20 years?!?

[brownmouse]

I've worked for 20+ years. Another 25 to go...!

I'm bored with it! I'n disappointed in my career and just not really INTERESTED in it anymore. And I didn't even VAGUELY achieve what I hadn't hoped. But I also don't want to retrain.

Nothing interests me work wise. I'm sure in my 20s and 30s I was full of passion and wanting to ACHIEVE SHIT. Now I just want to stay at home and vacuum and drink tea and read books and hum to
myself.

I have another 25 years left to work.... I can't work part-time.

AIBU?!? Does anyone else feel the same?

[Twelve1212]

I was made redundant and was fortunate to get employment quickly. When you are in this position it puts things into perspective. I also know people who have worked passed state retirement age, not for the money, but for the routine and social aspect of being with people. If you don't like your job can you change or look at enjoying your time outside work more ?

[Gwenhwyfar]

"I'm fed up because I feel a bit lied to - I thought I'd get ahead by performing well and it turns out self promotion not competence is the name of the game. "

I hope it didn't take you till the age of 50 to figure that out :)

[H0ttert0day]

I used to work Mon to Fri with long commute. I now work x shift on, x days off, with a short commute. So it now feels like I am on holiday every time I am on my off shift days ! I earn enough to fund my hobbies, pay my bills and holidays. I feel fortunate to have a good job that funds my lifestyle. Who would pay my bills and extras if I was not working ? I am also making provision for my retirement which could be for several years. I am lucky to have a good work _life balance.

[boatyardblues]

Thanks for this thread. I have nodded or smiled wryly to many posts. DH and I are the wrong side of 45 and both in the pit of despond about work, asking if this is it. DH has done well but neen promoted away from the stuff that fulfilled and stimulated him. I seem to have got stuck on the mum track and watch less experienced young men get promoted over me. Agree with the poster who said shiny self promoters seem to do disproportionately well. 😕

[Slightlyperturbedowlagain]

I think you are right Bolokov and am convinced that the best balance is achieved by 2 or 3 days at work per week. (But an honest 2or 3 days, not 2 or 3 days pay for 4 or 5 days work ) especially in high pressure jobs and where high pay would mean that 2 or 3 days money was enough to live on. When I did have a proper 3 day per week job I was extremely productive and did nearly as much as the full time staff- you cut out the bullshit time-wasting stuff, minimise meetings etc. Unfortunately that job wasn’t in the high pay category but it was interesting, complex and pressured and it was perfect part time because of that.

[Bolokov]

Retired very early at 54. I was lucky in having enough money to meet my (very modest ) needs at this point and very fed up with my job.
It was great for a few months. But after 12 months of having no role or purpose I am now making plans to go back to work. Sorry to be a wet weekend and a contrarian but be careful what you wish for.

[thanksjaneshusbandatcaresouth]

“ never been interested in a career OR kids (they're just like work, to raise then they'd only have to go to work their entire lives themselves - what's the point!?).
Never been entirely sure what I, or anyone else, is really 'for'. confused”

Lol

[StaplesCorner]

I'm 56 too and been working since I was 16, had a few months off when DD1 was born but went freelance and worked from home. I hate it. I hate it when I get a job in an office, I am about to leave one, I hate it when I work from home - I don't get anything done and get into a terrible state. I am just not cut out for work but now I am the main earner, my kids are mid-teenagers everyone needs more money than ever, have to keep at it. if I stopped work now we would be literally penniless within 2 months.

[phoenix1973]

I feel the same. Yanbu.

[edwinbear]

42, working in finance after a glittering investment banking career which was everything I ever wanted growing up. I look at it now and it's all so pointless. But DC of 8 and 6 both in private school means it's nose to the grindstone for the foreseeable future.

I'm fucking knackered.

[speakout]

My 5 closest friends are all in their late 40s and 50s, They all jacked in their careers to become SAHMs for a number of years.
Each one of them now has their own business or is self employed in a different area that they used to work in.

Hearing all the miserable people on this thread makes me glad I didn't stay on the hamster wheel.

[sleep5]

I am bored beyond belief with my job. Have a decent salary but if I change jobs it'll drop like a heavy stone. Mortgage & mouths to feed. I never win euromillions or lotto sadly.

[NellMangel]

Yup. 41 and so bored of it all. Pre kids I was first in the morning, last out at night, volunteered for anything, cared. Now I do 3 days a week, get it done but have no drive or enthusiasm for it.

I think I've got a bit complacent in the job, previously that would have been my cue to move on but now the part time hours, the understanding response to poorly child etc make it hard to leave. Plus I don't feel overly confident about coping with a new job :-/

[ilovesooty]

And my workplace has a lot of women with families in senior positions.

[ilovesooty]

I don't see that being passionate about what you do in later life is necessarily seen as naive. If you work in a field where you can make a real difference to people why the hell shouldn't you be enthusiastic about it whatever your age?

[speakout]

Being all bright eyed and exuberant about work at 50 can come across as naive

Unless you are self employed.

[gillybeanz]

Apart from having to do some sort of work to live I've never seen the point tbh, I know a lot of people enjoy it and define themselves by what they do, but I don't get it.
The thought of working for 10 years is too much for me, let alone 30/40 years like some do.
I suppose it depends on whether you are a work to live type, just earning enough in life, or a live to work type who wants a lot more money, luxuries, and to define themselves in some career.

[windygallows]

Yup OP. I understand! I'm almost 50. My work is interesting but fuck is the workplace ever a hassle and office politics a drag. I think the workplace is very much a space created by patriarchy, made by men to benefit men. Sigh.

I'm fed up because I feel a bit lied to - I thought I'd get ahead by performing well and it turns out self promotion not competence is the name of the game. Then you have to deal with so many men in positions of power who got there through self promotion and it is frankly tiresome. It's not hard to see why the gloss has gone.

I think it's realistic to feel this way and probably every healthy. Being all bright eyed and exuberant about work at 50 can come across as naive.

[RosaRosaRose]

I haven't read the whole thread after my previous post.
Some.
But I got the job, a step up. (Again, no high flyer).
I feel invigorated.
All these years, bringing up two children, career and country changes, divorce, homeless, and destitute in a refuge for 6 months (only three years ago) and now 62
Having started again, again and again.... then I feel proud to be still working.
Still pushing.
Still moving forward.
Still going.

[Slightlyperturbedowlagain]

It’s all just so wearing isn’t it. I’m paid part-time but in a job where I end up doing many unpaid hours (marking, prep etc.) and it’s always there hanging over me. I’ve got an interview in a couple of weeks for a job that is very different though related and actually is full time. I’m sort of hoping if I get it that it will be mostly done in work time because of the type of role it is, and at least I will get paid full-time, but I’m worried it may be just as bad if I won enough on the lottery for a similar standard of life to what we have now (nothing flash, rarely go abroad, boring car) I would give up work tomorrow...

[tortelliniforever]

Now I just want to stay at home and vacuum and drink tea and read books and hum to
myself.

YES!!!

[CheshireDing]

I thought it was just me !!!
I have been climbing the walls work wise for the last 12 months and couldn't work out whether I just needed some sun and a decent holiday (used to have 3 abroad holidays a year before DC now we have just had a couple of days in Wales)
I have decided that we are taking some time out and moving the children to the Australian outback for a few years, DH likes his vocation and can work over there and we can rent the house out for good money towards the mortgage.
This is JUST about keeping me going for now.
I am 42 this year I thought I was having some kind of mid-life crisis (not helped by the fact we both work full time with 3 small children and I have never known what I wanted to do career wise).
I think I should have worked for Greenpeace or something, bit late now though

[LilyChantilly]

What strikes me more than anything after reading through this thread is that IT WAS NEVER MEANT TO BE LIKE THIS! (Sorry for the shouty caps!) A few decades ago, with such rapid technological advancements, it was totally assumed that this would set us free to live meaningful, leisurely lives while the boring mundane jobs were done by robots. And this could indeed be possible if those with the wealth were willing to make it happen.

As the late, great Stephen Hawking said:
"If machines produce everything we need, the outcome will depend on how things are distributed. Everyone can enjoy a life of luxurious leisure if the machine-produced wealth is shared, or most people can end up miserably poor if the machine-owners successfully lobby against wealth redistribution. So far, the trend seems to be toward the second option, with technology driving ever-increasing inequality."

Sorry, I had intended to write a much more articulate post but I'm too tired after being at work all day!

[ForalltheSaints]

I am in my fifties and whilst most of the people are interesting to work with and talk with about non-work common interests, work is for me the means to fund the things I enjoy most and help the people I care about.

I know how long it is to retirement, and have some plans already.

[user764329056]

I am so lucky that in my fifties have just started a full time job that I enjoy, really interesting and time flies by and for one of the first times in my long career I don’t mind going to work, I can remember the days of soul destroying clock watching and The Fear every Sunday, sympathy to all who are fed up with their work, it feels relentless