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So GreenGene, although you and I posted the same answer ("no") I must say I don't think you grasped the concept. The way I read the OP, we are talking about a hypothetical job which is deeply satisfying and gratifying, a job in which we take great pleasure and to which we look forward each day to going to, a job which fully engages our creativity. It would be a job which we feel lucky to have, an example of Khalil Gibran's definition: "Work is love made visibile".
Your citing an arbitrary number of hours (and a rather low number at that) beyond which this great job would become a "nightmare" shows that you do not get the concept, that your imagination simply cannot encompass what I am talking about. I find that very sad.
I regret that you don't feel I understand the concept of a dream job.
I also regret that you don't understand that I am beyond a dream job. No matter how dreamy, I'm not interested.
Don't get me wrong. While over the course of my career I had a few jobs that weren't all that great (short-order cook comes to mind), I also had several that I really enjoyed. My last job before retirement was excellent - challenging, worthwhile, even important. I loved going to work. I know I made a difference, and that's a great feeling.
I also had no difficulty in leaving that job when I retired. I like to think that I left on a high note, when I was still really enjoying it, *and* when I was still making solid contributions to the work of the unit.
As to the 40 hour work week (perhaps considered arbitrary, but that's what I usually worked each week, unless traveling), the OP stated that the "dream job" would entail significantly more hours than 40. If I'm not interested in working 40 hours, I'm sure not interested in working more than 40. That would indeed be a nightmare for me.
In retirement, I look forward to each and every day. I find that each day can offer unexpected challenges and delights, opportunities to see new places/meet new people, chances to learn new things and continue to grow as a person.
Work is what I used to do. I'm retired now, and I am delighted with my life.
MY dream job was being a porn star.. BUT since I am older and now retired, I highly doubt I could do my dream job.....
You know, there's always phone sex. There's even a forum for phone sex workers. And you can make good money at that. The one thing you have to do is have a landline phone and you need to have guaranteed quiet while you're on the phone. The longer you keep your clients on the line, the more money you make.
Yup, I looked into it. I just decided that although I have a great, vivid imagination, I was just too introverted for that.
Hmmm...maybe this post should go into the Jobs and Employment section.
I regret that you don't feel I understand the concept of a dream job.
I also regret that you don't understand that I am beyond a dream job. No matter how dreamy, I'm not interested.
Don't get me wrong. While over the course of my career I had a few jobs that weren't all that great (short-order cook comes to mind), I also had several that I really enjoyed. My last job before retirement was excellent - challenging, worthwhile, even important. I loved going to work. I know I made a difference, and that's a great feeling.
I also had no difficulty in leaving that job when I retired. I like to think that I left on a high note, when I was still really enjoying it, *and* when I was still making solid contributions to the work of the unit.
As to the 40 hour work week (perhaps considered arbitrary, but that's what I usually worked each week, unless traveling), the OP stated that the "dream job" would entail significantly more hours than 40. If I'm not interested in working 40 hours, I'm sure not interested in working more than 40. That would indeed be a nightmare for me.
In retirement, I look forward to each and every day. I find that each day can offer unexpected challenges and delights, opportunities to see new places/meet new people, chances to learn new things and continue to grow as a person.
Work is what I used to do. I'm retired now, and I am delighted with my life.
Thanks for clarifying. It turns out we are not nearly as far apart in our feelings about work and retirement as I thought. In fact we are rather close. Your use of the word "nightmare" in connection with a hypothetical dream job really threw me off. I understand perfectly why someone wouldn't want to work anymore (I answered "no" too), but the "nightmare" part still thows me. Preferring not to do it is one thing, but a "nightmare" is on the opposite end of the sprectrum. No matter.
One thing I have learned on City-Data is how easy it is to talk past each other, to misread another person's intention, which is certainly what I did in your case. I'm glad you chose to set the record straight, and I appreciate it.
I just spent some time with a couple of relatives that just hate their jobs. Constant whining about it. And its not like they are mopping floors with their tongues. I think they just don't have the personality to enjoy anything.
There has been plenty of posts about the age of the candidates for the Presidency, especially about Bernie, age 74. Most of the people who say age is not an issue I suspect are not in their 70s. They don't know how it feels to be in their 70s.
So thought I would change the question somewhat and ask the people who know best what it is like to be old. People on a retirement board!
So if you could go from retirement into a new dream job but it was full time plus with long days and nights of working, would you want to end your retirement and go back into the workforce. Would YOU have the energy and drive to work 40, 50, 60 hours a week at work and have lots of responsibility? Would your old age catch up with you and cause you to slow down or would the fact that this is your dream job give you the energy to do a great job, regardless of the hours you work. Please discuss.
lol! NO JOB is a dream job! After all, you're wrested away from what you'd druther be doing. Personally, I would not go back unless I was staring dead on at the last can of cat food and the last bag of rice.
I just spent some time with a couple of relatives that just hate their jobs. Constant whining about it. And its not like they are mopping floors with their tongues. I think they just don't have the personality to enjoy anything.
It's been surprising to me over the years how many posters in the Retirement Forum hate(d) their jobs with a passion. They use metaphors like being in prison, being a slave, and other sorts of wild ranting. They talk as if a person only starts to live and to enjoy life at the point of retirement, whereas my feeling is work is part of life, not separate from it.
I understand being glad to be retired and I understand the enjoyment of the increased free time; I share that enjoyment. However it staggers the imagination to think of people who have worked for decades and have the feeling that they have not yet started to enjoy life. It is a sad and depressing thought that so many folks are absolutely miserable in their jobs.
One can be happy working and also happy retired; the two are not mutually exclusive.
Some people can be happy and content in their lives whether they are working or not working. Others cannot find happiness in either and are always gazing wistfully at the 'grass' on the other side of the fence.
One who spends years working at a job in which they are miserable, will be unlikely to suddenly discover contentment and peace in retirement. In contrast, one who imagines they would be happier working a 'dream job', than retired, ... has already decided once they would rather be retired ... and are now re-thinking their choice and imagining they would be happier working.
IMO, the latter are looking for retirement, a job or other 'things' to provide them with the happiness and inner peace -- that neither work or retirement alone will ever be able to provide.
Some people can be happy and content in their lives whether they are working or not working. Others cannot find happiness in either and are always gazing wistfully at the 'grass' on the other side of the fence.
One who spends years working at a job in which they are miserable, will be unlikely to suddenly discover contentment and peace in retirement. In contrast, one who imagines they would be happier working a 'dream job', than retired, ... has already decided once they would rather be retired ... and are now re-thinking their choice and imagining they would be happier working.
IMO, the latter are looking for retirement, a job or other 'things' to provide them with the happiness and inner peace -- that neither work or retirement alone will ever be able to provide.
Undoubtedly, your astute analysis applies to a certain number of people. However, you must have also read the fairly numerous accounts by people who were miserable working and claim that retirement has been a true and wonderful deliverance for them, a real nirvana. So, if these people are to be believed, they did in fact "suddenly discover contentment and peace in retirement".
Undoubtedly, your astute analysis applies to a certain number of people. However, you must have also read the fairly numerous accounts by people who were miserable working and claim that retirement has been a true and wonderful deliverance for them, a real nirvana. So, if these people are to be believed, they did in fact "suddenly discover contentment and peace in retirement".
I really do feel badly for people that just can't quit working not because they need the money, but because that is what their lives are about. Work is not more than a desired distraction from life for some.
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