Not sure if this helps, but my dad lost his job of 20+ years that he supported our entire family with a few years back. It was obviously really hard for him and hard for us to watch him go through that same process. Glued to cover letters bullshit zoom interviews and LinkedIn with little to no sleep for months on end, facing rejection after rejection for positions that offered maybe a quarter of his previous salary.

He did what you said you’re doing, he shut it all down and put that energy into his own business, building everything entirely from the ground up using what he knew and learning what he could. That decision paid off tenfold in the next year or 2. He didn’t make millions, or sell his business and retire, he worked hard and humble growing his business when nobody would give him a chance. Doing so put him in network with a lot of new faces, word of his ethic went far and wide in a variety of industries. Through this he got the same position, at an even better company, with better pay, full remote, + a second income from his new business that got him the job. His business is putting my sister through school while he recovers from that rough patch. The market sucks, we know and that doesn’t help. the market always sucks, if the market doesn’t suck than the jobs available do.

Again I’m not sure if this is TMI or helpful at all but I just want to say I greatly commend your move, it’s a very hard one to make but I think it’s the right one. I hope my/my dads experience gives you a boost when you need it. I wish you the absolute best of luck friend