From what i understand my life is very similar as yours. One out of 7 seems not too shabby though.
Maybe a cliché but... my advice would be to try to get most out of each simple experience. Today my spouse and kid went for a long walk together with me... while I could have been doing woodworking. I _tried_ to teach the kid the joy of walking without having too much on his mind. I also started conversations with strangers while waiting in the ice cream queue. There's always something to learn from that. I guess you by now understand my advocating for contentment.
this afternoon i couldn't have been doing woodworking because i don't have woodworking tools. that's not just because i can't afford them; my apartment is not really big enough for a woodworking shop, and i worry that the wiring might catch fire if i tried to plug in a high-powered saw. i'm having a hard time being content, despite going on a walk with my wife this morning and having lots of lovely conversations with strangers over the last three days, because the rent is due in two weeks and i'm nervous about whether i'll have enough. ever since i got covid for the third time in april, at which point i couldn't get paxlovid, i don't remember things like i used to. (i suspect that with enough money i could have gotten paxlovid.) also, my aunt is going to die soon, and i don't have the money to visit her before that
i really wish i'd spent more effort on making, and saving, money 20 years ago. i wouldn't want to spend my life on it, and no amount of money will keep me from dying, but right now i'm spending a lot of my life coping with the consequences of not having it
Maybe a cliché but... my advice would be to try to get most out of each simple experience. Today my spouse and kid went for a long walk together with me... while I could have been doing woodworking. I _tried_ to teach the kid the joy of walking without having too much on his mind. I also started conversations with strangers while waiting in the ice cream queue. There's always something to learn from that. I guess you by now understand my advocating for contentment.