I did a similar thing. I was circa 15 years in food manufacturing. Worked my way up to senior management (In charge of 50-100 people). Became entirely depressed with all the politics and mentally challenged people above and retrained as a HGV driver 3 years ago. I am 37 now.
I absolutely love the job I do now. No longer have the Sunday dread and am always excited for the day ahead. Working on your own is a massive positive for me. Only negative is you get treat like a second rate citizen by most people and the hours are long but I have thick skin and only work 4 days a week so I do regular hours.
I could quite easily do this job until I retire and even a couple of days a week to top up my pension. I think it is a great ace to have in your sleeve too as you can literally work anywhere in the world.
Saying all that I am looking to do something at the Open Uni this September as I have a lot of free time on my hands and always want to improve financially. Academically I was always quite strong (A's in Maths and Science) but my father died when I was 20 and I had a child at 21 so was thrust into the work place quite quickly as I needed to provide. Only now am I really financially secure to do something else without any great risk.
That's an epic rollercoaster man, you've been through quite abit and i'm so happy for you now that you're able to do more with your life.
I've always been the opposite school wise, i was never that academically inclined, hated studying and only managed B & C's at GSCE, College, did Uni but barely. I've always felt if i hadn't gone to uni and just worked i probably would have gotten more out of life if i got into an apprenticeship instead as i've always been more of a creative character and liked using my hands more.
That's another reason to get out of what im doing now, so i can provide for a child. There is no way i can sustain that if i stayed at what i'm doing now if the wife stays home hence another reason to change career. The plan is to work 4 days 10-11 hour weeks which should be enough to sustain a hefty income while allowing me to stay home and relieve the pressure on my wife.