A 9-5 that actually develops into something is kind of the key there. A lot of people have pretty dead end 9-5s. And some of them can fix that. In tech especially, that upwards mobility is actually fantastic and often understated. Spend a couple years building experience at a job, then jump upwards to the next (you're rarely going to see a promotion that's equivalent if you stay internal).

But not everyone works in tech. And some dreams just don't lend themselves to a very good 9-5, some are things that have to be done on the side first before they can even take off into something sustainable full time.

Finding a job you don't hate, that keeps you alive, becomes the important thing then. That isn't so easy in the modern day though, when unskilled jobs haven't kept up in pay at all, yet too many people treat them like they haven't changed since even just a few decades ago when they actually could support you.

It's a rough age for dreamers. I'm doing well enough. But many aren't.