What do you think about never retiring?
As you can read in this Rolling Stone article (with video), the now 81 year old Gordon Lightfoot is dedicated to his craft with a strong will to keep it going with all he has. He has quit drinking and smoking, married for the 5th time, and still has fun doing shows on the road.
Gordon Lightfoot @ Stagecoach April 2018
An artist, an architect, a landscape designer, etc etc might want to "work" forever. A roofer, ditch-digger or sewer-pipe cleaner, maybe not so much....
I have always been annoyed by the former waxing poetic over their "work" & never giving a thought to those who make it possible who might love a bit of time to indulge their passions before they die.
@EarnestEccentric some, yeah. But in 72 years I have read numerous treatises about how wonderful work is while i and 99% of the people I know go to work because we Have to, not in the least because we enjoy it. So I do find it out of touch & elitist that if you are lucky enough to love your "work" How Hard is it to understand/see that you are exceptionally lucky?! And gee, I dunno, give a one-sentence nod in your rather self-congratulatory piece to the guys who haul away your trash....
I should think that depends on the nature of the work and the definition of retiring, Mr Lightfoot is lucky that he has been able to spend a lifetime working and making a living doing something that is an extension of his natural talent. In that respect he is luckier than most of us, and as long as he remains healthy and the voice doesn’t deteriorate any further, he can continue doing so. Many people have very physically or mentally exhausting work, others hate their jobs their entire lives ...all of these groups generally look forward to retirement, in some cases taking early retirement if funds allow it, in order to take up some long cherished desire to follow a different path or even just to pursue a hobby or to travel. That is really not retiring, that is just exchanging something that was a drudge for something that is a joy to get up for each day.