I’ve been playing in public, and getting paid to do so, for over 60 years. I continued to do so while teaching band for 37 years. After retiring I continued to play mostly retirement communities about 75 times a year, mostly solo with BIAB.
So you might say music has been a major part of my life. When Covid 19 closed my senior venues I decided that at 80 years of age I would not return to entertaining live it’s not worth the risk.
I do still play regularly at home.