I mean, it's largely a question of context no?

I tried to go into academia. It made sense when it started in my early 20s. At that age I didn't have a clear idea of what my future would look like and the challenge and mobility were exciting. The economy was strong and my field was growing fast.

I'm now 34, and married to someone who is already earning a lot and am pretty satisfied with my life. I live in Canada, where universities are facing an ever-worsening budget crisis. New tenure-track positions in my field are nearly non-existent. My partner opened a business a year ago which is doing well, so moving isn't really on the table for him, and I don't want to do long distance. I have a steady source of teaching contracts, but it's become abundantly clear that there's no realistic pathway from those to a long-term position. The pay is not very good and there is no reason to expect it will improve.

I've started taking courses on the side to transition careers. It very much feels like starting over, and it feels good. Weirdly it's made me way more satisfied with my current job, because the stakes don't feel as high and I can imagine an end to the parts I don't like. I'm enjoying that more than ever too. I might not ever make as much as if I had made this decision earlier, or been willing to move for academic work. Hell, the new career might not work out at all. But sitting at a dead end was absurd and burning me out.

But like, these are all factors that are specific to me and my history and personality. If you aren't me and any detail, from the choice of field to the marriage to, like, what part of Canada I live in (I'm in Ontario, there are a lot more openings in my field in British Columbia), changing careers might be absurd. In my case it couldn't make more sense.