ChrisJ is probably a good person to talk to about this - he left work but then took on a new career as a school caretaker which he loved, and also was employed for a while as a care assistant to vulnerable people, I think.
Work is great if you love it and a waste of precious time if you don't. John loved his work but had a 2 hour commute most days; I felt that he could do something more joyful with his life.
There is a sombre consideration as well. I come from a local authority perspective and when we (sadly) had employees diagnosed with incurable illness, one of the things they were advised to do was get proper financial advice. The options (take ill health retirement, take early retirement & cash in the pension or stick with the job because of the death in service benefit) are complex & need to be worked through carefully. So, for example, I had a team member diagnosed with terminal cancer and her D-I-S was 5 x annual salary plus a decent widowers pension - it would have been madness for her to resign or take early retirement - she worked while she felt well enough and then went off on sick (on full pay) until she died.
John wasn't terminally ill so the finance adviser calculated it all out and if he lives for 17 years, we will start to lose out financially by something like £5 the first year and £17 the second year. By that calculation, retiring early and drawing down the tax free lump sum means he can have fun now and if he is still here in 17 years time, we won't really miss a fiver! But it wouldn't work out that way for everyone.