Lots of good advice here, but I’ll add: try to enjoy the good things about your life right now.

Enjoy your current relationship with your parents. Figure out something you can contribute back to them (cooking? yardwork? just good conversations between adults? You decide.) Enjoy being around other young people when you can. Enjoy whatever hobbies you have, or maybe pick up a new one if you don’t have one right now.

It’s hard world right now, harder in many ways than it was for the past generation or two. You feel like you’re running behind because you’re comparing yourself to a standard designed in a different world, a standard which may have problematic even back then. The “typical young adult” lifestyles portrayed in TV shows, for instance, were never realistic. You’re one of many people in this situation. You aren’t running behind.

Keep track of every dollar you spend. Media makes it look like everyone drops $5 on coffee and $15 on lunch every day. As much as people cry about avocado toast comments, it’s true- there’s no reason to pay 5x the price for something you can easily make at home. It’s easier to get a job when you have one. Get a job- any job- and then start looking for a better job.

For me it was definitely a sense of knowing the next step and treating the current step as a grind.

Out of high school I was working and in community college doing intentionally intense things like taking a full course load scheduled only on Tuesday/Thursday so I could work the other five days (two part time jobs). It sucked but I knew it was “only these two years”.

Same with transferring to a university and going to grad school. Even after graduating I stayed in cheap if awkward rooms to rapidly pay down my student loans.

What helped was knowing exactly what I was aiming for and knowing there was an end “in sight”.

Never felt guilty relying on my parents becuase I didn’t choose to exist. Definitely felt pissed they didn’t help me out. Just kinda floundered up till now. Get a job, look for a better one, look for a better one, don’t get or cause pregnant until it makes sense (it doesn’t ever need to be the goal). Accept you will never be above the water line because 10 assholes own all the worlds’ money.

You are right on track.

Every generation in the past hundred years has lived in a COMPLETELY different world than their parents.

Right now, your finding your place in the world, and that’s not easy.

Forgive the video game analogy if that’s not your cup of tea, but: You’ve just finished the tutorial (childhood) and there’s a lot more grinding to do before you should start comparing yourself to the end-game builds.

Just be doing something. Beit volunteer, art, education, etc. I went through a phase like that, it sucks. But you’ve just gotten get out there.

Have you looked into the trades? That’s what I did and have zero regrets. You’ll never be ballin like Rockefeller, but you’ll have a bit of financial autonomy. And it feels good to fix/make things that people rely on.

Slow down and take care of yourself. Check your local library to see if there are any social groups that interest you. Spend an hour or so a week doing something you find meaningful, like volunteering. I used to think these were more chores, now I see it as what makes the shit I have to do bearable.

It’s scary how fast recurring costs add up. Little changes in lifestyle habit can genuinely make a big difference when added up over a year. One example of something surprisingly easy to cut down is electricity usage. It’s also just expensive to be poor, so once you’re over the hump of getting everything from the dollar tree and holding even a small balance on a credit card everything gets a lot easier.

As for rent I don’t know how anyone gets by without a roommate anymore, but there’s definitely no shame living with parents if you have that option. In most of the world multigenerational households are still normal, and considering rent is by far the biggest expense that’s a huge shortcut to getting on track for retirement if available. I wouldn’t feel guilt or shame for that, parents want to see you succeed and particularly if you’re staying there to build savings or get out of debt that’s more along the lines of something to be proud of.

I think your generation probably has it harder than any in the US for the last 70 years. Don’t beat yourself up. Life will do that for you.

Joining the military isn’t the best option for everyone, but it is worth considering as it will solve all the problems you listed.

Identify a skill that is in demand and find a way to learn it. That’s the only secret to having an income.