This is an intense post, got me pondering. If you did get a "real job" back in the USA, do you have a degree or work experience that would likely land you the best salary in a certain area of work? Just curious. I left the American job market in my mid 20s without any uni degree and a work history of manual labor, so I don't even know what I could back in the USA, wouldn't even know where to start.
Have you considered life in another SE Asian country? I don't know much about other countries at the moment, but Cambodia is still fairly easy to stay here long term. Obviously Cambodia is also not everyone's cup of tea, even many Cambodians don't like it here, but I totally understand the reasons for leaving.
I have a degree but almost not work experience. I don't relish the idea of entry-level positions and this is what inspired me to take a year off (which turned into more than 3 years because of Covid.)
I think that at least for now if I do leave Thailand, and I likely will pretty soon, that I will go have a try at corporate America, even though I think I threw up in my mouth a little bit just thinking about that prospect. I need to be realistic about things and from the experience I have meeting people that tried to live our their 20's and 30's in Thailand at least, almost all of them have great regrets for having made that choice. As shitty as it seems to me and I presume you as well, I think this becoming a slave to the grind is necessary for me to ever be able to have a nest egg of sorts should I decide to move back here one day.
I have not considered other countries other than this one and you have a good point. Perhaps before tucking tail and running back to US and A I should at least go and have a look at the other countries around here. Other than Laos, it seems to be quite easy to get into all the other ones. I'll likely skip Malaysia because the posts by @davidke20 , it seems like their Covid restrictions are still pretty intense and I'm kinda over all of that.
Nah. Don't worry about the covid no more. They even ditched the check in system now. But you do need to confirm if vaccine is required to avoid the heavy quarantine during entry, which they often change the standard requirement from time to time.