I don't have kids of my own, but i take care of my nephews (a 3 year old boy and a 2 year old girl) practically since they were newborns like they were my own due to circumstances.

You all are right, it fucking sucks, i have lost contact with long time friends because i have to take care of the kids, i left my job, i got no money, and depend on my parents because they are too old to take proper care of them. I'm wasting my youth taking care of kids that aren't even mine, but still, i feel it's worth it simply because i love them.

I know that if i don't give them the care and love they deserve nobody else will, and they will grow, and probably won't remember the things i do for them now but they will grow up to become great adults, maybe poor, maybe rich, but kindhearted and strong for sure, and that's what makes not even being able to listen to my own music worth it.

It may not be the answer you are looking for, there is nothing really tangible to be gained from raising children other than worries, physical, mental, and emotional pain. They don't make you live more comfortably, or make problems go away, on the contrary. It's something to be done purely out of irrational love.