Back in 2016, I was working as an engineer earning $4-5k per month. At that time, it felt like a lot honestly, but what I didn't like was that the only way to increase the salary was to either work more hours, or switch jobs frequently to bump up the salary.
Eventually, I started investing in stocks and I kept on doing this until the end of 2020. But still, I felt it was a slow route to freedom and really making it.
What really changed my mindset was when I met a guy from Twitter IRL. He had like 500
$BTC at that time, which was equivalent to about $5m. It felt like a huge number, and I was blown away because he was both younger than me and more risk-seeking.
My NW was less than 1/10 of his, and I asked him how I could get to his level. He basically told me to stop being so afraid of betting it all, going all in when I had conviction in something.
If you lose, you just go back to where you already are. This advice really changed me. I am not saying now is the time to do the same, but at least keep your eyes open. Opportunities in the market might come when you least expect it.
In the summer of 2021 I bought ETH for everything I had, at around $1900-2100, my NW doubled 3 mo later as ETH hit $4k, and since then I've been full time crypto. After that, I went deep into the ecosystems of Terra, Fantom, and Avalanche. Good times, and I really miss the opportunities we had back then.