To not really want to work anymore?

[caranconnor]

I am 50 and although I have enjoyed working in the past, I would prefer never to work again. I feel I have done enough. It is not an option, I have to work for another 17 years. But anyone else feel like this?

Work is a slog but I wonder if the fact that it's a dark, freezing day in November that's making us feel like this!

Today I had to get to work early so walked in the dark to the station and froze on the platform. Grim.

22 more years of full-time work for me until retirement. Luckily I do my hours over 4 days which makes a huge difference

Tbf, it is worse in the winter.

Yes.. every day on the tube there posters advertising new (mainly online) businesses.. here one day, gone tomorrow.. no stability any more.

CaranConnor you say how I feel.

I'm menopausal too, can't be doing with drama, BS or being someone's slave anymore. No enthusiasm or inclination. I want to be a housewife - to stay home and look after my home and DH, not have to battle people every day to get to work, and back again. And it's so easy for people to say, oh start a business! Unless you have savings/capital, a husband who can support you, the energy needed to get it up and running - then forget it! Most of us normal ladies just want to start taking life easy now, not harder! And yup, if I won the lottery I would resign yesterday.

Agreed: there is no merit in work for the sake of work (and most of the people who fetishize 'hard work' are people who don't do any themselves.)
I'm in my mid-50s and don't plan to 'retire' as such, but in a few years I will have my own little business and then I will work happily at that till they carry me away in a box. Right now, though, I dislike one of my jobs; another is for a client who is struggling to the point that they are possibly not going to use me much longer, and so I am having to look for some moderately-paid bullshit job to keep us fed and housed...

i am so relieved that I am not the only one who feels like this. I am in my mid 50s and it is a real struggle to keep working and commuting as I am so worn down and my brain does not process as quickly as it did pre-menopause.
I am also fed up the volume of 20 something graduates who I have to invest time coaching and developing who then get rapid promotion because they manage to take the credit for my work and have the energy to do long hours etc.

Look for a new job. I don’t love my job but I do enjoy working. Having had (and still have) health issues that left me stuck on the sofa for weeks and off work I’m just grateful I can work at the moment. Sitting around the house and watching daytime TV is enough to send me into an early grave

I'm 60 and always planned to be retired now, mortgage paid off in 6months. I've another 7 years to go before I can retire (and have enough to eat) I'd go tomorrow if I could. I'm fucking knackered. And pissed off that I wasted my life in long term jobs that I hate.

I completely understand OP.

I don’t think it’s connected to menopause sadly! I’ve felt like this since my mid 20s. Always remember meeting a woman on the train crying and crying for the same reason.

When mums gone, assuming she outlives me, I will move north to pocket the cash and sod the weather!

As it stands, I have 34 years to go 😭

I'm shattered and never have any time. My job is really flexible too.

I'd stop working tomorrow, if I could afford it. In a heartbeat

I’m 55, got my degree and qualified in my current role when I was 50. Love my job, kids are all adults so we’re travelling as much as annual leave and finances permit. Get really tired but seemingly no more than younger people doing shift work.

I feel like this and I'm 26! I save as much money as I possibly can - like half my salary a month (my phone is 4 years old, laptop 7 years old, car 13 years old, haircuts from Groupon, don't drink alcohol, don't buy new clothes) so I can hopefully pay off the mortgage in my 40s and go PT/retire after that. No way in hell do I want to work till 67.

How depressing is this thread. I didn't realise so many people felt this way.

I really don't know what I'd do if I retired. I really do need the structure I have in my working life.

I also think it's preferable to becoming a full time carer for the DGC like many of my friends have.

They are utterly exhausted .

I love being grandma to my 6 DGC. I spend lots of time with them, love them to bits, but I have no desire to take on the role of substitute parent from 7 in the morning until 6 at night, 5 days a week.

I’m 39, no dependents, mortgage paid off and peri menopausal. I went four days a week and that helped.

41 here and I feel the same OP - would love to never work again. Aiming for the 50 mark if not a bit before.

@ItIsWhatItIsInnit. Similar here but I cut my own hair

Laptop is 10 years old but I’m a lot older than you!

Just to add, it’s very difficult to change jobs once you get to a certain age......many people with heaps of experience at 55 will often be overlooked for the bright, young things so changing jobs is not the answer either.

How depressing is this thread

Its got me feeling really down tonight. As I said above, its been something I was thinking of writing myself, but now I'm sat here remembering that I have made some bad choices in my life and now its too late to change any of that. I try not to think about it too much normally.

Me too. No chance of early retirement and there is a world of difference between retiring at 60 and 67!

I feel the same as you OP. I'm 50, 29 years FT work without a break. I'm exhausted. I really like my job but I feel like I'm dragging through the days. Menopause hasn't helped.

Long term single so there's only ever been one household income. Ten years ish left on mortgage but despite paying into a pension since 22, I won't be able to stop working until I can get my state pension.

So, like you, another 17 years. Can't bear the thought of it.

I’m 26 and I feel this way too... 🙈 When I’m in work the thought passes through my head that I’m convinced there is a better use of my time. 40 years does feel like an awful long time. I mean, my dad died at 55... the thought of dying while still working is terrifying!

I’m 46, and hate working. I cut down to four days a week earlier this year, but seem to be still doing five days of work for 1/5 less pay. My workplace has quite a toxic culture, and I feel totally worn down by it. I think I am too old to find something else now, but god, the thought of 20 more years of it.

I just over 50 and had almost no break in employment (apart from a few months of gardening leave) since I graduated from university. Had o1-2 mid-career changes.

I have to keep working for another 10 years and that is when my youngest dc graduates from university. But I will probably go on for another 5 years which will make me 65+ by the time I retire.

I work ft and in a professional job. 50 is when I am in a senior position and in the final stretch and some of the more lucrative years of my earning life. I have to make the best of this with ft working and taking on responsibility - in fact, I am just about to take on a 'head of' role.

15 years is a long time but it will fly by, I reckon, as I am so busy with work and dcs' life. My worry is being made redundant and hence I also have to keep my skills up-to-date as it will be increasingly difficult to find new roles at my age. So far, I have changed jobs every 3 years, which keeps things interesting.

I cannot take my foot off the gas pedal.

and yet we are still told ..women can have it all...I am knackered too very much the same as all of you above. So I have made an executive decision!!
Here you go ladies...I present each of you with a cup of tea and a bunch of flowers! And just wanted to remind each and every one of you how important and valuable you all are.We shall keep going forward possibly on our hands and knees but we will...

I am 58 and was lucky enough to be able to retire this year (voluntary early exit scheme) after 38 years full time and no maternity breaks. It’s great.

I'm 46 and love my job but have a child with SEN so I don't even relax when I get home - it just ramps up then.

I will need to work for decades more but I love my job. Full time work plus children plus SEN is ducking knackering though. Unlike most I can't relax when I get home.