Lots of experience with this. My best friend was a GI doctor. She cut down her hours to be more available for her 3 girls. She cut down to part time, then the minimum she could work at her hospital. She came to the same realization- she had saved enough money and could retire. She wanted to be there for her kids. So she retired completely. She said even at the least amount of hours she still had so much paperwork and reading to keep up with. She is happily very involved with her kids and her family. I’ve asked her several times if she regrets giving up medicine and she says absolutely not. She was burnt out anyway (and this was before COVID). She also says she never imagined how busy she would be NOT working.
I haven’t read the responses past your OP, so probably other sahms have chimed in. I haven’t worked outside the home in 18 years. But I’ve become very, very involved with local charities and with my kids’ extracurricular activities. I recently told the president of our local charity that I look forward to the date when a particularly qualified person who is scheduled to move to the area will take over my volunteer job. I’m excited to see how she runs it because she has the education and experience I lack for this job. The president said he doesn’t plan to let me go and has other jobs he’d like me to oversee. I love this charity so I will likely continue to help whether they need me. Nonprofits really benefit from qualified, intelligent volunteers, particularly retired people since the nonprofits can’t afford to hire exceptional employees. Maybe nonprofit volunteer work is a route you would be interested?
Wanted to add that Dh is semi-retired. When he sold his construction-related company to a Fortune 500 company 6 years ago, he started building another company but he is doing that for fun. With the rest of his time, he’s the head knight for his local Knights of Columbus, he is on the parish finance council, he runs our schools autoclub, he’s now coaching the school’s rowing club, and he’s very active with no other my sons’ BSA troop as well as my daughters’ troop. He just sort of fell into the activities he’s helping with as they became open and seems to love it.
Last edited by gatorsmom; 09-21-2021 at 01:59 PM.
" I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent." Mahatma Gandhi
"This is the ultimate weakness of violence: It multiplies evil and violence in the universe. It doesn't solve any problems." Martin Luther King, Jr.