I’m so sorry. So many of us are wage slaves.

I know the feeling

What kind of work are you looking for and what state ?

The job search takes persistence above everything else... even more important than having the necessary skills. Its objective is to break you. This is what most people don't realize or won't allow themselves to acknowledge. They think the job search is designed to find you your next job. No. It is designed to weed out those without fortitude. And it does claim a good number of people each day who just drop out from disappointment, exhaustion, or impatience.

The key is to pace yourself. Take a vow to never give up. And turn yourself into a literal machine to keep applying. During this phase, it doesn't matter who ghosts you, how many rejections you get, how isolated you feel. Just keep churning out the applications. First, last, and always, it's a game of numbers. At some point you will start getting responses and that will lead to an entirely new set of disappointments, exhaustion, and frustrations.

It's an inhumane game. And the only way to win at it is to keep playing.

I quit my job in August, I can't justify spending my life in that much misery for people who don't notice I'm not there

The search can be brutal, exhausting and humiliating and seems like it will never end. Many of us have gone through this at some time in our lives, some of us more than once. All you can do is keep trying. Best wishes.

I wish I had an answer for you, but the best I can do is empathise and wish you the best. I hope life gets easier for you soon.