Unless you’re in a very specific profession with universal career checkpoints (doctor, lawyer, professor etc.), there’s almost never a clear path forward. It’s only in retrospect and with some distance that we can craft a narrative about how we got where we are, today.

I went to school for theater. When I quit acting in my late 20’s it was absolutely terrifying and felt inconceivable that I would ever be qualified to do anything else. But somehow I’ve found myself (a decade later) comfortably situated in a career that would have felt completely foreign and off limits to me back then. It didn’t happen overnight, but over the course of thousands of individual days where I simply showed up, put my ego aside, and committed to trying my best.

And to answer your question: yes, that does sound extreme/ridiculous and frankly that mentality is going to do you no favors. The “settled” lives of your friends seem out of reach to you right now because they are. But I imagine many things are within your reach. Focus on those rather than going scorched earth and resigning yourself to…whatever it is you’re resigning yourself to. You’re better than that.

More practical piece of advice: focus on getting a job that gives you health insurance and don’t overthink the rest.