Mid 40s. What gets me is that I've seen all of the major cycles in our industries and programs multiple times ... and in the end, nothing changes. So when everyone is freaking out about this AMAZING opportunity, or this MUST WIN proposal, or this DIRE circumstance .... I'm like, eh, whatever, two years from now nobody will even remember or care. I just can't get riled up about anything.

Wait until you all hit your 50s! Work gets harder to care about with each passing day. Your parents die or have serious health events that may require you to manage. You may have to take over their finances and care, and you may also have children. Your responsibilities increase. Perhaps your spouse also has health issues crop up. Work becomes something you do mainly for the health insurance and 401K. And then bam! You get downsized due to ageism just as the hot flashes become unbearable during Zoom meetings…..

So much of our work can be categorized as email filler. 

I notice that my supervisor will complicate a really basic email to make the whole experience feel like work. Tasks that are very straight forward and responses that could be one sentence or now wordy and long winded. I feel that many people's jobs are simple due to technological advances. Most of these people are now over the age of 50 and still responsible for these tasks. Our meetings are rarely about work. Work is more about how to use a new tech system, enter information into automated software, or communicate. Very little work is actually about a substantive issue like solving crime, reducing poverty, solving terminal diseases, or building fuel-efficient heat. 

I think work feels more futile because it truly is. I predict that AI will reduce white collar jobs, and some of these fluff positions will need people with real-life thinking skills to solve human problems. 

44 year old woman here and I feel this way exactly, OP. There has to be more to life than the work slog

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Women have been sold a lie. Work isn't everything. Life is about relationships.

Only women?

This is DCUM, men’s only purpose for existing is to make money.

I’m 38 and I don’t see it losing meaning for me - but I just started my professional career a few years ago (worked horrible shit jobs/was a SAHM prior). I love working and have always loved working. Not a workaholic by any means but I just love organizing stuff and getting stuff done. Maybe that will change but probably not.

Anonymous wrote:Women have been sold a lie. Work isn't everything. Life is about relationships.

Only women?

Anonymous wrote:Mid 40s is when everything seemed to have gone down hill. Getting reading glasses slowed me down tremendously.
I had a few horrific jobs in my twenties and all I ever wanted was to not ever work again. Started investing and I don't really have to work anymore. I also don't want stuff so that's good. I do need a nice gym though and can't find one.

Started investing? What exactly did you do to be free to retire at 40? I’ve been investing but I did index funds so have squat.

Mid 40s is when everything seemed to have gone down hill. Getting reading glasses slowed me down tremendously.
I had a few horrific jobs in my twenties and all I ever wanted was to not ever work again. Started investing and I don't really have to work anymore. I also don't want stuff so that's good. I do need a nice gym though and can't find one.