Well,
Never had the desire to do management....managing people,projects, blah! I consider myself more like a tradesman build, fix,improve...hands on...so I am sure to make my weirdness come thru and that keeps me where I want to be. Make a decent buck and I have a life...
I understand your priorities. I valued my free time and turned down some ‘opportunities’ that I thought would impinge too on my lifestyle and/or take a toll one one’s wellbeing. On the other hand, I liked the extra money to help build retirement assets — so I could retire when I wanted to.