everything is fine

Well, don't be too hard on yourself. Life is a journey, and I can only hope that you are smarter now than when you were younger:-).

Also, things CHANGED, like A LOT since then (the pandemic accelerated a lot of it) - and what's more, as the documentary Inequality for All (that link lets you watch the entire thing free) reveals beautifully, they had been steadily changing for almost 50 years but for various reasons people did not (want/choose to) realize that (e.g. the rise in women outright wanting to work rather than be restricted to solely be allowed to work as a homemaker happened independently, so "the economy getting harsher" did not seem the primary explanation for why people were switching to 2-person income).

The sheeple did not want to know, but also their leaders (politicians etc.) themselves chose to close their eyes to what was happening, as it happened - even as they were paid (bribed) to do. (btw I would rephrase what you said as "prioritize your career stability" - b/c while money is useful, it does not seem to me to be worth selling your soul for, like at all costs - but yeah, ensuring that your basic needs are going to be met is 100% something that people need to be told, despite how colleges are trying to sell the opposite BS just to fill their own bank accounts)

That said, I've seen people leave tech / office work and become literal janitors - it royally sucks when they lose their health insurance and the boss won't even look them in the eyes as he tells them that fact - but depending on your personal circumstances, you gotta do what works for your own mental health.

The American Dream died for many people (even most younger ones?) a long time ago, and what remains is its animated corpse that occasionally moves but for reasons other than "life". I hope you find a way to improve your own circumstances, as much as you can anyway.

Even "success" carries with it such burdens nowadays - e.g. Professors get to initiate younger people into this hellscape of soul-crushing debt followed by the same ethical dilemma that plagued them except has only become more heightened over time?

And heaven forbid that you invent something, like a cure for a disease, either watching as it becomes restricted solely to the wealthy, or else people use it to win political games, and either harm others or like rub it on their own crotches I guess - when we all know that the only proper use is to win internet arguments on social media sites:-P.

Seriously, I am losing the faith and if someone could point me to a good resource to help restore it that would be wonderful... Though realistically thinking I do not think that things will become better in any of our lifetimes.

At which point, grouchy old man yelling at cloud.gif aside, "managing expectations" seems the only positive way to move forward, that I can think of at least:-|.