Curious all. Our realm forum is so quiet despite Nordrassil being a high population realm. I’m in my 40s and playing on a MST realm but actually log on from South East Asia.
How many of us are older with work, family commitments yet still find so much solace in this game? What are your stories, if you would like to share?
My guild family which I founded recently in June of this year has never shifted in our mission- to give us all a safe space to love the game despite a mix of chronic illness, grandkids, kids, depression, autism, mental challenges, passionate outbursts of emotion. I have led these kinds of guilds that enjoy playing all PVE and PVP content with civility in Wow as well as SWTOR and Glitch 
Why did I return? I missed Elvwyr, my clumsy silly moonkin who has been around since 2007. In the era of Covid, stuck in a very urban landscape, the wonderfully varied and glorious artwork of WoW enticed me home. I need a “Play an alt” intervention to explore other roles but I admit being a sentient owl/chicken/deer/antelope/bear hybrid is as much fantasy as I ever want 
It’s been good and bad. For me good has definitely been becoming an in game guide. After the slog to Torghast level 8s (just before they changed the requirements argggghhh lol), I enjoy ferrying newer players around if they are lost and helping young and old with questions.
Challenging is the current expansion: Shadowlands oft can feel like an endless grind with very little reward. I miss the flowing narrative found in so many of the previous expansions and while I like the increased steps of difficulty in Mythic +. the RNG of the vault in a word is horrendous. 4 rings in a row when my legendary (leggo) is a ring. Still RNG can also be amazing, second time in Karazhan and Midnight drops for me and first time back in Firelands, and I get the fire cat kitty pouch 
Best is finding my group of family which is my guild- Older players who have been burned so much in their WoW journeys- all who have taken various breaks in the game. Now rarely do we want to pug the key roles but through that we have found some lovely folks to fuel both our community (which i and my hubs also lead) and guild.
How many of you have also applied to WoW council? I have and I know some fellow guides who have as well though they are from different realms. Really hoping our fair realm or allied realms gets some of representation. I feel very blessed that we have 4 other realms allied with us.
So what are your stories? Please share if you wish? Thanks in advance for any replies. /salute all of you and have a blast in the game whatever you all are into.