First, I applaud you for making the decision to seize control of your life. We've been conditioned in this modern day society to think employment is the only option but when you have the strength to remove yourself from the plethora of limitations of that employee mindset driven existence a whole new world opens up.
I was a wage slave for almost thirty years. I was raised to work hard, go above and beyond, and do whatever was asked of me of my "superiors". You know what? That only got me labeled as a "work horse" in most jobs I had and my "reward" was only more work. It seemed like no matter how hard I worked I barely made enough to have anything left over at the end of the month after the bills were paid and I socked away 12% of my income into my 401k like I was told to by financial analysts.
I had been writing on the side for over twenty years and finally made the decision to leave my day job in 2017. I was scared as hell and nearly chickened out several times. I went through what only could be described as healing/deprogramming in the weeks/months that followed. Eventually little things began to change, suddenly the success I had been chasing for over two decades began to seek me out instead. Four years later I'm doing better than ever. My net worth is easily 10x what it was when I was an employee. I don't say that to brag but it feels like I had to prove how seriously I wanted to be a writer to the universe. Once I did this it set a mechanism in place to deliver abundance. Businesses say they can't find employees because people "don't want to work" but what is actually happening is the pandemic made people wake up enmasse. More people than ever are building their own businesses and finding their own way.
Stats say that most millionaires have seven different income streams. My advice to you is to get started building this for yourself. I read a book called "Choose Yourself" years before I quit that gave me practical advice on how to begin. Nomad Capitalist and MyRichJourney on YouTube have also been immensely helpful. The key is to get your money working for you instead of vice versa. So much of what we've been taught in the public school system and by so-called mainstream financial analysts about debt and investing is wrong. What they teach us keeps us poor. I'll say it again because it's so important...what they teach us keeps us poor and it'll become more and more apparent as you move forward in your emancipation.
You just have to step outside the mindset that you've been conditioned to believe and start thinking like the wealthy do. You will eventually lose some of your friends from your "old life" as you begin to transform. Surround yourself with a few people who have already achieved what you want and that you genuinely like, respect, and click with. It's amazing to be on the other side. You actually have time to devote to your own self-improvement and health. You have time and the mind-space to pay attention to be truly present for your family and friends. Sorry, I nearly wrote a book here! Lol.
Best of luck to you man! I'm rooting for you.
You make some good points and it's good to see someone else acknowledge that the system isn't geared towards financial freedom, or even security, in the least bit. Doing what we're told/taught through school and society is simply going to keep us on the hamster wheel and that's why I needed to forge a new path. I've made some good decisions in the past and that's allowed me to have a few options.
You also mention losing friends and surrounding oneself with the right influencers. (I don't mean Instagram influencers here). This is an important factor as those who have been there and done that can provide valuable information or just an example to aim at. I remember when I first started in the property industry twenty years ago. There were so many naysayers around me but they dropped away as success came. They couldn't handle my success and forward progression and jealousy, envy and their feelings of self-doubt pulled them away. I was ok with it.
Anyway, thanks for taking the time to write your comment and for opening up about your personal journey. This process has been a long time coming and, as you say, the pandemic situation has caused many to reevaluate, myself included.
More people are waking up to the perils of legacy finance, cryptocurrency has been a huge catalyst for this. It's been interesting to watch the news lately. The SEC is in a really tight spot here in the U.S. (it's probably the same across the globe). They don't want a whole new class of people to become wealthy or else their entire system of control falls apart but crypto has now infiltrated the legacy financial system in the form of hedge funds and investments from big corporations (mostly in the form of Bitcoin). The genie is truly out of the bottle. They're realizing it's too late to kill crypto outright since the big banks and corporations are in deep and they our among the governments largest constituents. They're racing to figure out the solution. I think they're gunning for defi first since this is how most people are making the big money in this cycle. They'll say it will be "to keep people safe".
It sounds like you've already experienced the shift that success brings so you'll navigate this new journey just fine.
Thanks and I'm happy you've decided to take this particular path. In ten years from now you'll look back and realize all the dividends it paid.