Interesting question. Maybe I can put a different slant on it...
I was living the dream. I owned my aircraft, a TB10, it was at an airfield close to me and whilst I was very busy flying commercially (as a passenger) all over the world during the week, I was able to do everything in my power to be home to the UK late Friday nights. I was single following a divorce and my time was my own. Saturday's were my 'France' day. 8am, fire up the mid-life Porsche and head to the airfield. The TB would be on the apron waiting for me. After a walk-round, off I went. ...SND, DVR then direct LFAC or Cap Gris Nez to LFAT. A nice lunch, a visit to the supermarket and back by 16:00.
Then, I did a trip down to Spain, a great experience. After that, it was like there was nothing else left to do. I had my IMC, I'd done aero's...I just became bored. With so many people desperate to become PPL's I know that is a terrible thing to admit but it's true. The aircraft spent more time sitting in the hangar and I thinking it would just rot away, I sold it. That was seven years ago and I haven't flown since. I don't regret a moment of the twenty three years or so I was flying or indeed the money I spent. However, last June, I was chatting to a chap who owns an aircraft near where I now live in France. He was exhorting me to start again. I went up for a flight with him in his Jodel and it was then that I realised my time had passed. I'm only 58 but I didn't feel comfortable..to be frank, I was apprehensive or, if you want to put it bluntly, scared. I don't know why, I really don't but I knew that to start flying again would be wrong because I couldn't be sure I would be able to handle things if they went awry.
So now? I go fishing in my boat...and I'm happy. There you are. That's my story and that's why I stepped down - gracefully.