I've been there. Keep your nose to the grindstone, and you might accomplish your goals. Stop to smell the roses, and you're brain may relax enough to find a solution that's been eluding you. But since you sound new to both, my advice is: don't mix date-finding with job-hunting. Both are full of blows to the ego, and rejection and desperation form a vicious cycle.
That PhD won't keep you warm at night, or meaningfully get you a better job, but at least it'll let you pretend intellectual superiority over others. That's the important thing.