Hi Bill,
I truly get your question. At age 53, I started playing on Jan 1, 2010 so I'm over 4 years into my playing journey... not 10 years, but now I know I will continue. I play an average of 12 hours/wk and I have come far with that level of practice and play, much farther than I ever imagined in the beginning. I truly have no "talent" for music, so it is only repetition and work that has gotten me to where I am.
There have been many times when I have questioned "Why am I doing this?" I am ok, good enough that non-players enjoy my music, my friends are not embarrassed for me.
I know I will never be a really good guitar player or singer or entertainer, though I am doing open mics and play with a group of people in a variety of situations... and I'm still growing. The satisfaction comes from other places. I invest a lot of time into practice and playing, and my social life has come to revolve around playing music. It is good for my brain, which is showing signs of aging. Music is my very most important meditation time, my spiritual release... it balances my life. I'm now 57, and playing guitar has fundamentally changed my life in a good and positive way.
I know absolutely that if I stopped playing, after a time I would crave it again, need it... and if I really stopped, I would deeply regret it... you can take breaks for a few days or even a few weeks on occasion, but any longer I think is dangerous to momentum. An object at rest tends to remain at rest... overcoming inertia of a body at rest is much harder than maintaining it. Just keep playing, even on the days when you just don't feel it. If you play daily you will overcome plateaus, and you will have glorious days where things really come together. You can dream of being able to repeat those really satisfying days consistently... I do.