Having a job that one doesn't particularly care for, or even hates and can't wait to get out of, is different than being self-employed in your backyard.
I loved what I did (moldmaker) and told everybody I would keep working until I couldn't. I started taking SS in 2013 so I didn't have to kill myself like I did before, so working just helped fill in the day.
Then came April 2021 and I woke up on Monday with severe sharp pains in my right hand, wrist, and shoulder. It got worse as the weeks went on, spread to my left side and I got dull aches in my legs, and that was it for me. The docs said it was arthritis but I don't buy that and I don't think they really know.
By late summer of 2021 the pain was starting to slowly fade. I could actually do things without stabbing pains. Since then I am probably 95% good.
If was tough mentally to give up my business, which I had since 1985 -- it was my life, was never a "job." But now, looking at 73 next month, I have zero interest in working.
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