G'day Stever, I guess each of our circumstances differ. At age 20 I got an apprenticeship with Telstra (Telecom back then) and thought I had a career for life. 25 years later I was made redundant and thrown away. My field in the company and little outside qualifications (my fault) gave me little chance of similar employment outside the company. I became a Mr Mom for the remainder of the year, cooking, cleaning, school canteen rosters etc.
The following January as the school year was about to start my wife told me that the local Primary School didn't have a cleaner. "Something for you to do for a couple of months" she said. I approached and the Principal got me employed by the contractor, and three months later I got the job permanently when the Education Department here went back to in-house cleaning. My pay was about 1/3 of what it was with Telstra but we had no debts or mortgage (I had paid it off five years earlier), my travelling time was zero instead of two hours a day with Telstra, my travelling cost was about zero, the stress factor was zero, the bullsh-- factor was zero, I worked on my own which suited me and provided the school was ready by 8.30AM each morning I was basically left to it, which also suited me. The job also fitted in with the local volunteer bushfire brigade that I'd just joined (our small town is surrounded by state forest). I did that job for 19 years, until I retired two years ago.
You never know what's around the corner or how things will pan out. Regards, Jeff.