I retired early, age 55, after a not fun series of mini-careers. I didn't so much feel shame as just a quest for answers. Why was it all so hard? I feel stuck between the privilege of quitting (owing to moving somewhere cheap and downsizing, an inheritance, a husband who works, and a small pension) and the resentment of never finding my niche, or the feeling of finding a career that ever suited me. I turn it around to "I retired early" and I let people make what they will of that--maybe I was thrifty, smart, flexible, or ?? If they ask what I did, I just say "health and education for the state" and if they want to know more I can oblige, but honestly most people don't want to know more.