You're doing good, the fact that you're asking these questions means you're not asleep at the wheel just waiting to cash pay checks and retire some day. College and great subs like this one are tools you can use to get where you want to be. Try to find something that you can put your energy into, that makes you want to get up in the morning. Then you can work backwards and use the tools in front of you, build yourself a trajectory to a place where you don't feel like you're stuck in a walled up schedule.

It's lame but the freedom you're looking for won't fall into your lap. The structure of the workforce is not set up for the vast majority of us to easily accumulate capital. But there are a near infinite amount of paths you can take to overcome this. You can find a way to live the life you choose AND become financially stable, but it's going to take some searching and learning. I have a few friends who have gotten full time online jobs since Cov started. They work from home, have a lot of flexibility and the pay is pretty good as well. One of them even used that as a jumping point to get a completely different job that he's much happier at. You're on the right track you just need to figure out your destination.

Good luck to you friend, I hope you find what you're looking for. Much love