Anyone else only ever played with one racket for years?

The racket doesn't make a big difference, it's mostly the player itself that makes the difference. But a big factor is how often you play. If you play once or twice a week, a racket can last a few years. But if you play a lot it might be done after 6 months. Sometimes one bad hit on the ground, fence, glass, or collision with a team mates racket can break it. Generally, softer rackets wear out faster, because a softer core gets compressed more and with every compression it will get small tears and lose a fraction of it's capacity. The surface layers(carbon, fiberglass,..) also influence the hardness of the racket. A harder racket doesn't get compressed that much and will last longer, but it will be harder on your arm as it doesn't absorb as much forces.

It depends on a lot of things how your racket 'feels'. My racket in winter feels horrible but in summer it's great. With new balls I love it and with old balls I hate it. Some brands of balls I have great control and others I have no feeling. If you feel like you can do what you want, you have a great racket. It's that simple. I think softer rackets wear out more than hard ones. For reference, I play a lot and smash quite hard. But my head speed pro x after 8 months was exactly the same hardness as a new one.

I've been with mine 5 years. And trust me, I hit the glass with it when I feel frustrated and is still holding like a champ. I want an easy excuse to get a new one but this one wants to stay

I have been playing with BullPadel Ionic Ctrl for 2-3 years now, so most of my padel career. Why do I stick to it? Answer: because it's an easy, round racket. I get relatively few bad hits (outside sweet spot) and even those usually land on the opponent side. So no need for a change, even if my smash suffers a bit lol. And yeah, I agree with other commenters that racket doesn't really make a huge difference. If you like playing with it, that's enough.