Feeling totally burnt out at 59?

Could you be creative.....e.g rent out rooms/host students/ do freelance?

What a disgrace that we have to wait to 66.

I reached a similar place, in my hitherto fulfilling career as a social worker, in my late 50s. My manager triggered my dissociation by telling me creativity is a luxury in Social Work. My career to that point has been fueled by creativity in meeting need with innovation where necessary. I checked my pension fund took early retirement at 62, moved with DH hundreds of miles to help with first grandbaby. I did business training intending to use my interest in felt making to make a living but got side tracked into a venture which had to be shelved at the start of the pandemic. By then we had found we could easily live on our - small pensions - . My business partner had undertaken further training in non profit business and now runs a very successful mental health project with significant funding from the NHS. I have never regretted walking away from the career I loved and feel further vindicated at every family gathering where we now have 3 grandchildren...

I did something similar retiring early from my career as a nurse manager, consultant nurse and university lecturer at 55 totally knackered. Dh was the same worn thin after 40 years in local government. The money may may be less and quite a shock to begin with but you do adapt. Very best of luck. Save yourself!

I just got bored with the job in the end, & felt I was on a treadmill and too tired to do much outside work.Retired at 63, now 64 & have another 3 years till state pension.
Yes the money's less, but it's just about enough & eating lunch in the garden / walking / enjoying music are free. Meeting friends & a regular swim doesn't need to cost a fortune either.
Don't regret letting go of your previous plans, you have to go with what's right for you now. If you do something part-time that will help your savings last longer, & a change is as good as a rest, they say.

Thanks all for the replies. They are really helpful. I look around me at work and everyone seems so enthusiastic but I find the complex nature of the problems I deal with at work now, the child protection issues, the endless meetings just so tiring. Years ago I would have got energy from dealing with these issues and a sense of achievement but now just feel totally worn out by them. I have arthritis also and am going home for two knee replacements which doesn't help. I don't have a mortgage at home, and always live simply. I don't like eating out, just happy in garden and with free stuff in library and hobby groups. I still have one child to finish supporting in college - just another year and a partner, 6 years younger than me who always wants to go abroad on holidays. This is a pressure as I am quite happy with a simple lifestyle.

Had such feelings about ones job? Hell yes. Walk away, look at the future and never look back. Do what makes you happy. Age is not a reason or an excuse for burnout. You need a break.

I retired at 60 very happily. One thing I'd say is that by the time you no longer have to pay membership of various professional bodies, unions and superannuation contributions your actual occupational pension goes a long way. I was NHS too.

Thanks Macadia and Aveline. The problem is though that I have no private pension. I worked in so many different jobs when bringing up my children alone - just whatever suited in terms of childcare or was nearer home so that I didn't have a long commute that I never built up a pension. I have a small pension of 3k a year when I am 65 from the Irish health service, and I will have a both an Irish and UK State pension which when combined will give me about 300 euros per week. I have 2 rooms I can rent out for now. I am still supporting my daughter aged 23 with the costs of courses for her law exams as well as my son in his final year in college. In Ireland, there is private health insurance and I am still paying that for my daughter - it all add up as does the pressure. I think I am going to try and find some part-time work. I may feel better then. Thanks again for all the replies.

I'm sure you can find some part time work to add to the coffers right now. However, looking ahead the financial pressures should ease as your children take on their own costs in time. That does happen! Right now might be a sticky patch but remember, this too shall pass. Good luck.

Burn out is common in public service - service being the operative word. We aren’t very well looked after either but we look after others, it’s a one-way street.
Might also be worth having your thyroid function checked.

This all sounds so familiar, after 42 years of MH nursing, 20 as a cpn I too burnt out. I felt completely wrung out emotionally, nothing left to give. It took Covid and my father94 with dementia in and out of hospital to make me realise. I took retirement at 61, my nhs pension and I’m lucky husband has pension and kids all grown and flown. So, we took the leap and have moved to Catalunya, rent out a small casita to top up pension. Life is much cheaper and freer, slight guilt at deserting grandkids but we all make choices. Good luck you will find a part time job , I used to fantasise about working on a Waitrose till 🤣

Enjoy your retirement, even although it means using your savings.

I felt just like you at 64, teaching senior school with three long years to go to retirement. So I quit and I have never regretted doing so.

Good luck!

I have been reading your back story on Gransnet. I may be stating the obvious here but to be eligible for UK state pension, you must have 10 years of national insurance contributions.

So, even if you return to Ireland, you must continue paying your national insurance contributions up to your UK state pension age which is 67 in your case.

I worked only 6.5 years in my country of origin but I found out recently that I will be entitled to a very small overseas state pension at 65.

Right now, you are feeling totally burnt out and shattered but once you recuperated and feeling much better, how about applying for the same type of job but totally remote but only part time?

I burnt out as a teacher. I stopped enjoying it and was able to stop doing it. I have never wanted to teach anything since. All the teach in me was used up.
A friend who was a physiotherapist has had a similar experience.
Since then I have gone on do do all.sorts of other work, paid and unpaid, which I have also enjoyed.

Thanks again for all the replies. GrannyFi - Catalonia sounds fab! I've often thought of being a shelf stacker or night packer in a supermarket at home. SporeRB - I actually trained as mental health nurse in the 90s and spent 6 years in the UK - I started paying the NI contributions before I returned to the UK again three years ago, so have about 23 years contributions and will continue paying. I agree about taking some time to recuperate and doing what I do now remotely and part-time. I briefly did some telephone work for an EAP provide - six sessions, and the problems weren't so complex - I did enjoy it. Flutterby345 - that the way I feel - I used to be a mental health nurse, then a therapist, and I feel the caring part of me has been totally used up. I will try the EAP work again part-time after some time off. Thanks again to all of you. All your advice and comments were very much appreciated.

I took a similar career path to you. MH nurse then nurse psychotherapist. Totally burned out by age 62. Crawled the nest 4 and a half years to pensionable age and injured my back through carting computers and my belongings around because we all lost our our desks and in their wisdom (stupid idea made by people who have no clue about what we do and how we work) moved us to "hot desking ". Once I'd left I felt that a huge weight had gone from my back and shoulders. I have never looked back and I don't miss it one bit. Look after your health because the NHS no longer care. They will work you until you are on your knees and so burned out that they want you to go. It's not a good place to work anymore and that's sad.

My wife was a midwife and threw the towel in at 58 after 40 yrs nursing, could not face another 8 yrs to retirement, so did a lot of others, continual changes and staff shortages made the job impossible to do properly.

Now much happier doing supermarket checkout and cafe, clock on, clock off forget about it till next shift, no stress. Big drop in wages but what price sanity!.

Thanks 2507C0 - it's nice to hear from someone who has been both a mental health nurse and a therapist in the NHS. I had envisaged being able to do counselling until I was retired but can't see that now. I also find the politics and the endless meetings where nothing seems to get done, and then all the tech changes difficult. I just marvel at some of my colleagues who are around the same age as me and are so enthusiastic about the work and seem to have so much energy for it - I feel a bit inadequate by their standards, but maybe they are feeling the same underneath.
David49 - that's exactly what I would like to do as your wife has done to work in a cafe or on a checkout - I am going to try and get that kind of work when I return to Ireland. It's a bit more difficult in Ireland as it is quite ageist, but I am going to send out lots of applications and see what comes back.

ElaineMcG47

Thanks 2507C0 - it's nice to hear from someone who has been both a mental health nurse and a therapist in the NHS. I had envisaged being able to do counselling until I was retired but can't see that now. I also find the politics and the endless meetings where nothing seems to get done, and then all the tech changes difficult. I just marvel at some of my colleagues who are around the same age as me and are so enthusiastic about the work and seem to have so much energy for it - I feel a bit inadequate by their standards, but maybe they are feeling the same underneath.
David49 - that's exactly what I would like to do as your wife has done to work in a cafe or on a checkout - I am going to try and get that kind of work when I return to Ireland. It's a bit more difficult in Ireland as it is quite ageist, but I am going to send out lots of applications and see what comes back.

Wages aren’t great but the perks add up, not only staff discount but short dated and damaged packaging items, late shifts are best.

Feel the same in my job; I manage a team of social workers and just feel like I can no longer do it, so have decided that I will be taking early retirement. I am lucky though, as I have savings and as my financial advisor said to me, there’s no point in being the richest person in the graveyard, use the money to live.

I totally understand your reasoning I was a mh social worker for just 15 years and the pressure started to cause my own mh to suffer. So I started training part time as a psychotherapist. I worked for the nhs then left to start my own private practice. This was successful and I made enough money to manage. However after 15 yrs I recognised I wax experiencing ‘Empathy fatigue’ and knew it was time to step away. After a lot of soul searching and personal therapy I accepted, I had made the right decision. It sounds as if you’ve reached that stage and time to move onto the next stage of your life. I started doing some voluntary roles with Alzheimer’s Soc which I enjoy and no pressure! Quite often volunteer roles lead to paid opportunities too so worth taking a look. I wish you luck and thank you in behalf of all yr clients for the help you would have given them.

ElaineMcG47

I wrote here before am working in the NHS as a CBT therapist and then travelling back home to Ireland every second weekend. I am moving home in June. I'm happy about it, but I have no job lined up - difficult to get at 59. However, I feel totally burn out and don't think I could work as a CBT therapist agaTin, or do any form of counselling. I feel quite anxious now meeting new clients. I never had this before. Has anyone who worked in a similar therapeutic position ever felt burnt out by it. CBT therapist should be an ideal career to work to retirement - State pension at 66, but I just can't imagine doing it. I have savings enough to last me for two years. I have had other stressors such as brining up children on my own, and one of them still being in college and I don't qualify for grants for college for my child. Just wondered if any one had such feelings about one;s job.

Is Irish pension at 66? Cos here in England it would be 67 for someone who is 59 now

You mentioned having many jobs when you were raising the children. If you contributed to a pension a year here and two years there, it may amount to a small amount, and even £50 a month is better for your purse than stagnating.

Yes, Louisa1523, the Irish State pension is at 66, and from 65 onwards they let you claim Job Seekers Allowance, without the expectation of seeking employment. I think that is because so many employments still have a retirement age of 65, though this may change. Also from age 62, any one can just work for 13 weeks of the year and claim Jobseekers Benefit based on their Irish national insurance contributions - so really it is just getting through the next three years for me. Charleygirl, I had many different jobs with different employers but I didn't join the pension scheme in any of them except the one where I stayed for five years - I didn't think it was worth it as I knew I would be changing job every two to three years depending on my children's needs, and for a while I did long-term agency work. I will have a small pension of 3k per year from the Irish Health Service when I retire at 65.