For an archetype of the anti-sentiment to your post, I highly recommend the autobiography of Donald Keene, renown translator of Japanese literature: Chronicles of my Life: An American in the Heart of Japan [0]. He never stops working on the next project, biting off the next book. It's an inspiring life of rich and endless output, lived in such a gentle (almost heartbreaking) way.

[0] https://amzn.to/2GZk0Am