Retraining after 40.
This is a bit of a ask for guidance really.
So. I've worked what feels like endless shitty dead end jobs in my life. Always resentful of the fact that I know "I'm smarter than this." Yet seem to keep making choices that put me in these roles, with no growth or progression, or long after the glory days. I've done warehousing, office work, sales, area sales, QA at recycling plants, care home work, and currently working as a hospital porter.
The portering job with shift work and enhancements nets me about a 2k a month take home, and the work is easy but exhausting (30k+ steps a day), and filled with frustrating management systems that mean nothing will ever improve.
In my early 30's I attempted to retrain into becoming a 3d game artist, and achieved a high qualification (level 7 nvq city and guilds). Although I have used this knowledge to sell assets on marketplaces, and run a YouTube channel teaching some of what I know job wise it's also a bit of a dead end. I can't easily relocate due to family, and most work is freelance, sketchy, or short term contracts which I don't feel I can rely on.
I've tried numerous ways to scale the 3d thing into even a modest side income, but asset sales are barely there. YouTube monetization seems to never get closer.
I feel I'm slightly burning out and spreading too thin chasing something with it, and with 12 hour shifts and other obligations I'm wondering if it's worth trying to retrain into something better.
I feel I'm smart enough to learn most things, but lost on where to start. I've been considering something to do with information security but don't know where to start or even if there's entry level roles near me or remote. Ultimately I want to divorce my income from my time. Which at this age I'm starting to value more than money, but obviously I still need money to live on.
I feel like pretty much everyone I know is either on double what I'm on, or works half as much and gets to enjoy life. I look at my job and just think can I do this shit for another 20+ years.