Learn to enjoy what it is that you do, and find purpose in it. I worked at Arby's for a while, and I found purpose and enjoyment out of it by working the drive-through area and making funny voices in it. (Then I got fired because I was too white, but that's a tale for another time.) I landed this security job I'm working now while nearly completely broke, and again--I have found enjoyment in it. There are some shifts where I'm surrounded by dozens of morons vomiting and screeching, and I pretend to be an action hero badass trying to contain it. Then there are shifts where everything is dead slow, and I'm literally just guarding a set of stairs and staring at drywall whiter than me for six hours. You know what time it is? Time to write in my notebook for six hours about D&D campaign shit, yeeeaawww!
When I worked at Home Depot alone at night stocking their shelves, I would sing to myself. When I worked at Pizza Hut at the age of 15 (because my family was dirt fuckin' poor don't judge me) I threw pizzas in the oven and pretended I was going for a high score.
Also, being the writer that I am, I looked at every single day of work as an opportunity to gain more stories. Whether it was dealing with some pissy customer being an entitled piece of shit human being, or having someone tip me 20 dollars from out of the blue, or dealing with a heroin junkie in the bathroom--every day was a day I could gain a new story to tell my friends. All the while, I was being paid, which let me buy food, pay for rent, pay for education, and buy the occasional toy so I could unwind after a long work day.
There are some things in life you have to do. You have to get a job, you have to sustain yourself--this much is true. It'll also consume 40 hours a week of your life not including travel time, so yes, you get a lot less time to play games and read comics and other stuff like that. That being said, learn to love what you do, and you'll enjoy every day of your life. Or, at the very least, you'll find fulfillment out of it.
I've met people working for minimum wage in Subways who loved every day of their life. I see this one subway every 1-2 weeks and the workers there love their jobs, two of them have worked there for over five years.
I've also met incredibly wealthy people with enviable jobs who are spite-ridden self-hating narcissistic vampires, who suck the joy out of everything in life. God knows there are lots of stories of Hollywood actors and writers and directors who became millionaires, yet who still ended up as drug-abusing sorrow-filled debt-ridden rejects.
Money buys comfort, not happiness. Comfort can ease happiness, but happiness comes from within. Happiness comes from you. That's why our medieval ancestors found ways to be happy even though most of them died before they were 40--from childbirth, war, disease, or a combination of all three.
Also, final note: Full time College also consumes about 40 hours a week of your life in most programs. Some a few more, some a few less. You have to go to class, and do your homework, and study, and write essays, and so on. There's maybe a little more forgiveness in college, but not much more than you'd receive in most jobs, really.
Combine College with a job and you're probably closer to juggling 50-60 hours a week of labour. When you leave college, you'll actually have
more free time--not less.
If anything, worrying about your future is a pretty clear sign that you've started growing up and seeing the bigger picture. Every adult is worried to death about jobs, taxes, and their future--that's the #1 rallying cry of every political party in the world right now. So you're not alone, and it's not absurd for you to be concerned... So, ironically, you can relax about that.
