It feels like the options are “work a job you will hate that dominates your entire life just to kinda scrape by but one financial mishap will destroy you for months” or “work a lot of odd jobs trying to make enough while trying to monetize stuff you enjoy and are actually good at until you hate those things too. “
At my age, my parents had two children, a house and steady pay with a healthy savings.
If cost of living was lower, a job paying $20/hr with benefits would be a godsend, but in my area it’s barely enough for a single bedroom apartment, and forget raising a kid.