What I have found is that no matter how much work I have done, my earnings haven't been enough to both invest and still maintain some kind of life. Life always took precedence over investing which is likely why I never had enough.I think you have done a good work investing on steem and powering up. Maybe you could have more, but you definitely have a decent amount of SP. You are doing fine and some day you will see the fruits of your work.
It is the other 30 years of work in my life that I had the best opportunity to develop but didn't. I am not planning on making the same mistakes.