[kkfdkerpoe]

If we look at recent advances in AI there's a good chance that many of the high-paying jobs you're jealous of might be automated away before lower-paying physical labour and such. Education is not the pathway to success it used to be IMO, not for most students anyway.

You also shouldn't judge yourself based on how "productive" you are in terms of the current (and doomed) capitalist system, or how much money you can earn, or what degrees you have. Try find things other than money in life, things that make you happy. Perhaps also read some stoic philosophy. Worrying about things that are beyond your control is waste of time, and stuff like IQ is exactly one such thing. Also ensure you're doing enough exercise. Even if you don't like physical labour, the fact is humans were made to move, not to sit down all the time. I didn't do much exercise at all until my mi 20s and yet it made a huge difference once I started regular running.

I studied CS, have a degree and work in the field and I most certainly couldn't pass a FAANG interview ever. Economically I would be better off had I just studied something like nursing after high school. It's my family and certain physical hobbies that bring way more content to my life than education and work ever will. I could be very unhappy if I compared myself to other, more "successful" people all the time. But I don't bother. Eventually we all die and then we're all equal. Ultimately money doesn't bring happiness even in this life. 100 years ago people had much less material good, much less opportunities but yet they weren't any less happy on average. They were just busy doing whatever physical labour they could get to bring food on the table. That's what evolution really has made us for, not staring a screen indoors all the time. Studying CS taught me that what I really want is a small farm in middle of nothing and minimum amount of computer time. Maybe what you want is something different, but it probably more than just education, money and work. Trying out new things out of your comfort-zone is the only way to find out what you really like (and don't like).

[user-extended]

Well, you clearly have not experienced the housing market in my country, where you need to pay 30 year's labor for a small place of your own. It's the way it is, I cannot see it changing any time soon, that's why I feel I am not enough for life.

I know we're all just dirt in the sand, eventually, but "carpe diem-ing" through life seems for me to be impossible without a good source of income. Everything is expensive, everything requires money. That's why I cannot find happiness, I am too poor to afford to think about happiness to begin with.