I think everyone is different and everyone's work and retirement experience will be different.
I did retire from a job that I was not enjoying (I was a part owner). I was almost immediately offered a new job doing something quite different and without any of the administrative crap I had to endure previously (I just have to do what I am paid for and not worry about other stuff).
I have been financially independent for many years. I am now in my mid 60s and still enjoy the job I am doing.
That said, I have a bucket list of non work things I want to do and I am not getting younger so I need to stop or slow down the work soon to get onto the bucket list.
It really is fundamentally different for everyone. Asking if retirement is "worth it" is a lot like asking if divorce is worth it, it depends on the marriage. The benefits of retirement depend on the job.
Retirement is
always a good idea when the time comes that continuing to work limits your quality of life more than not working.
Everything in life is a trade off, everything. So every single life decision comes with sacrifices that have to be made. When you need money, the sacrifices to work are a great trade, when you don't need money, that's when they need to be examined more closely to see if continuing to work is still an optimal choice.
When you still need money, but have FU money, that's when it's important to examine exactly how you are working and if it's the best deal, because the world of work is enormous, with near infinite options. Every person has an infinitesimally small knowledge of what the world of work can be like. Individual knowledge of work is astoundingly limited, as are experiences of retirement. The possibilities are just too vast.
When I retired I couldn't do a bunch of "bucket list" things because I was pretty severely disabled and it was the pandemic.
Surprisingly, I also lost a lot of interest in a lot of bucket list things. It was kind of amazing how my concept of what I wanted to do with my time and energy changed so much once my free time wasn't just between work shifts. My entire relationship with time changed.
I ended up having
plenty of adventures, lol, they just didn't look at all like what I expected them to. I had to be retired to figure out what my best life actually looked like in retirement.
I could have never, not in a million years, have guessed what my best life would end up looking like. But DH and I are both happier than we've ever been in our entire lives, living a radically different life than we previously envisioned.
Work and retirement are just far too broad as concepts. The terms are virtually meaningless when you factor in all of the vast and creative activities out there.
The question isn't really "should I retire?" but "is my current job really helping me optimize my life?" If not, it's actually really hard to know what your optimal life even looks like if you've never had the space to get to know yourself outside of your particular profession.
It's pretty simple. Is your life fucking awesome? If not, then do you have the wealth to change things? If yes, then do that. Maybe that means ticking items off your bucket list, or maybe it means doing shit you never even realized you would love.