I moved to a big city because I wanted to pursue art and be in a place where art was more valued than it was in the rural area where I grew up. In order to support myself I got a 9-5 office job because I felt like that was the safest thing to do. I have a lot of medical issues, so I really needed something with health insurance. The job is catastrophically boring and pretty depressing too. It's a city government job, so the benefits are good, the pay is not good, and I feel like I'm a cog in a horribly inefficient and sometimes actively harmful machine. It's also lonely because I just sit alone in a cubicle most of the time. It's so unfulfilling that it keeps triggering existential crises every day (what's the point of living if I have to do meaningless, unpleasant things all day?) I can barely afford the apartment I'm in now, so I know I can't just quit.
Someday I would love to make a living selling my art, but I don't know if that will ever be able to happen. I've also strongly thought about being a tattoo artist, but that would require an apprenticeship which is unpaid and might last for years, so I would have to move back in with my parents at 25.
Advice? I'm so frustrated, and I feel like I have no right to be as unhappy with this job as I am. It's not like I'm being abused by my boss, but I know I'm not going to be ok if I have to feel like this 8 hours a day forever.