@cryptomancer and @azurejasper: The way to move forward from ideas like "I want this" and "I don't want the 9-5" is start to get specific about your strengths, and what you are actually good at. Finding your value and sharing that value with others is the way to do this. I spent around 6 years saying this to myself, "I hate working for people. I want to be my own boss. I don't want to be bossed around" but I never got anywhere because I didn't answer these fundamental questions: 1. What do I like doing that could both benefit myself as well as others? 2. How do I build confidence in order to make my dreams come into reality?
Those are the harder questions that most people never get around to answering.
Getting real is hard. Complaining is really easy. Living in a way that brings happiness starts with you doing a radical self-inventory that is painful. There's no other way, I think.