How can I find a realistic way forward that protects my health without putting my financial future at risk?

From the time my child was born, we signed him up for early-learning programs, interest classes, and then many after-school lessons through kindergarten and the beginning of primary school. Some nights he came home exhausted, still unable to finish his homework at ten o’clock. He would fall asleep with his head on the desk. I kept asking myself: Why did we sign him up for all these classes? If it was supposed to make his life better, what did “better” even mean? I think we parents had a desire for our child to succeed, but we were also being pulled along by the environment around us. He was already trying to adjust from kindergarten to primary school, and rushing between lessons meant he was not really absorbing what he learned. By the time he was further into primary school, we began to understand that effort can fail when its direction has drifted far from its original purpose. We gradually cut back. Letting a child grow in a healthier way seemed more important than how much knowledge he could collect. I did not solve the feeling all at once, but little by little, I stopped struggling with it. I made peace with it.

Today the weather is very hot, and I am staying indoors. The heat made me uncomfortable, and it brought back a memory from many years ago, when I had to go out to work on another very hot day. At the time, I remember thinking, “Why am I going outside on such a hot day?” But I had no choice. I had to finish my orders, meet more customers, and earn more money. I was using my legs to keep going, but I began to understand that I needed more skills and more ways to earn money. I needed to use my brain, not just my legs. So I learned computers for about two years. Later, I found a job where I could sit in an office and did not need to work outside. It is hot today too, but now I feel good. The heat is still there, but my life is different from the life I was imagining on that street.