At what point in life did you decide your career wasn't as important as enjoying life? (relatives, retired)

[beckycat]

I'm sure there comes a time when enjoying life due to getting older is more important to you than work. Is this true? If so, when did you feel that way?

[Tek_Freek]

I felt that way more when I was young, less in middle age, and more again as I approached retirement age.

I admit I was not ready yet when I retired, but health forced me to.

[akck]

I think that time came once I was within 5 years of retirement. It was at that point I realized how much we needed and we already had reached that goal (and 3 times since). At that time work became less important and becomes even less important as we approach the fifth year.

[Charles]

The day I graduated from college. That's when I retired. These have been my "retirement" jobs.

The hardest day of work is easier than the easiest day of college.

[augiedogie]

I don't feel this way. Work is necessary. Time off for relaxing, R and R, is a break from work. But work is still more important.

[texdav]

I always boxed my career from private life. I think it has to be a balance because career success can bring a better private life and certainly better retieremnt.In think too mnay create their own stress by not attending to lifes requirement to suvive well and have seen so mnay examples of poor choices dictating problems and stress down the road than anything else.

[Mr5150]

My jobs and career have always been less important than enjoying life-since my 20s. I have to admit that I am not rich, but I will say I am happy with my priorities.

My view: where do I want to live? Next, what can I do for a living in said area. It has worked well. For the first seven years out of college it was jobs. Then I found a career, which enabled me to live where I wanted-Social Services.

For me living where I want is a foundation of enjoying life. I love living in small towns and the country. I realized early on that where you live determines so many aspects of your life. For me some of the aspects of enjoying life revolve around nature (and nature related activities such as hiking, biking and skiing) and small town folk. No traffic problems contribute to my enjoyment of life.

Anyway, plan to retire in three years. I feel blessed that my wife and I have lived in the area where we plan to retire for the last 11 years.

[Ghostly1]

About midway through my 45-year working life. It came to a head a year before I retired which was several years sooner than originally planned. I made the right chloce.

[Escort Rider]

Since when does having a career rule out enjoying life? The career is part and parcel of the enjoyment of life, but in addition to that, most of us have interests and activities (perhaps hobbies is a good word) which are also a large part of the enjoyment of life. We don't just start enjoying life when we stop working full time and switch over to either working part time or not working at all.

I would hate to think that I had no significant enjoyment of life until I retired from full time work at age 61 and one-half. That would have been horrible. While still working full time, I went to movies, read books, traveled, went to dinner with friends, got a private pilot's license and flew my own plane around the country, then rode bicycles beyond the casual mode for about 10 years, then rode motorcycles beyond the casual mode for more than 10 years. The latter three activities were incredible adventures. Yes, that's a strange progression (flying small airplanes to bicycling to motorcycling) but it would be a long story to explain it).

[catsy girl]

career was never as important to me as living the kind of life i wanted with the people i loved.

i think some of this attitude is just a part of who i am. but, i also think some of it was derived from being born to middle-aged parents who, when i wa born, were already at a place in their lives when the strivings to get ahead had been met or had been resolved. i never saw parents who had to struggle to advance , and even though we were never more than solidly middleclass, my parents and the other relatives with whom i lived, had reached a relatively mellow place in their lives, even when i was a young child. it was very clear to me, early on, that they worked and attained what they did, in order to have and maintain the home and the family life we had. work was necessary but the life inside our home was sacrosanct. i felt very similarly about my work life and career- it was never number one; not even close.

catsy girl