I love my job but hate the politics and unrelenting demands and bullying that seem to increase monthly to justify the bonus culture and fat cat business practises by those incharge. So I may love my job but I hate actually doing it under these constraints.

With very few qualifications or relevant skill sets it is not an easy ask to find a job that renumerates  one at the same level. Happiness is the key but if that price comes at a lower cost then the results would be catastrophic.

I am by no means old but I am certainly not young. Age is not the important factor here it is the physical abilities to keep going.

Retirement is not an option at present as mortgages and such bar the way let alone the fact that the savings pot is almost empty. However, one must begin to think about it.

And here lies the problem or question. What to do?

Many people have hobbies and interests that gradually take over their lives and work then lessens and the hobby takes over until one day it replaces work entirely. Some love their work that they remain in it regardless of age. This is all well and good but for those of us that do not want endless days of nothing it is all very daunting and reminds us of days gone by.

When I was about to leave school I had to attend a careers advice session. Great, I thought until it was over and I was none the wiser and in this state of ambient limbo I have remained. I am confident that I have attributes and skills way above what I give but sadly they have not been drawn out of me and I don’t have the direction to focus on to show them.

I am not saying I do not have interests. Far from it. What I lack, though, is something “filling the day” interesting. I am sure I am not alone in this.

I cannot retire with nothing to do but finding something that inspires me never seems to materialise. However much I seek, whatever I discover and whoever gives advice it just is not what floats my boat or is so expensive that it is dismissed.

So this is what worries me. I must be lazy at heart. I do not particularly relish the day that I wander into town to sit in coffee shops to read the paper, watch the world go by, walk about a bit till its time to go home for an afternoon and evening of television and bed. Equally, I could not see myself sailing round the world single handedly.

The countdown to retirement is real and somehow between now and ten years time I have to set out some sort of plan to realise that dream.

Life has brought me this far and I am proud that I am beginning to overcome one of my crippling conditions through hard work and looking at things in a different way so who knows what influences are around the corner.