I wouldn't be so optimistic on a few months to start generating cash tho unless it's a simple yet novel idea.
Becoming ill is a sure way to be unproductive and make bad decisions, going broke and struggling to make ends meet is not going to help you focus on getting things done, dying early is not compatible with seeing your idea to success.
"Hustling" as you call it is pretty much the only way to start a successful business exactly for the people not born into "strong safety nets" and "privilege" as you call it. If you have those you can start your business and coast.
I don't know any business owner - including myself - who didn't have to make sacrifices to his or her well being to push through. That's the thing with having a business, there will be times were you just can't relax or take a day off. You are in fierce competition with the world, and as a founder you should work at a minimum twice as hard as somebody who is hired. It can and it will lead to partial or complete burn out, but one thing that I've noticed among myself and every other business owner is that they push through and simply don't get sick when they can't be sick. After it's over and they've pushed through a project or a season, they will get sick as dogs and disappear for a couple of weeks to lay on the sofa. The overload cannot be constant, you need to have some time to recover in the foreseeable future.
The human mind has an incredible force to resist becoming ill and for those who cannot channel this, starting a business is a bad idea. Being ill is mainly the body's reaction to fight the sickness, so it's somewhat under our control.
Having a business puts incredible pressure from all sides on a person, and you can't be a person who thinks about "tapping out" as an option. Especially in situations when other people's salaries depend on you.
Then you claimed “the human mind has an incredible force to resist becoming ill”. Tell your mind that while lying in a ditch with a few broken bones after an SUV crashed into you as you were walking half asleep after working for 18 hours straight and realizing you have no insurance or even a bank account because you failed to get or hold a job in pursuit of a moonshot startup idea.
The notion that starting a business automatically requires disregarding your life and people close to you is frankly some cool-aid fueled SV fever dream that doesn’t represent reality. Those startup founders with thousands to millions of YC funding, who pay themselves enough to live comfortably (with all the healthcare, dental care, good apartment and other things that many people struggle with) in one of the world’s most expensive places, are the prime example of the opposite!
People in my situation shouldn’t go all in on some new venture unless that venture can interest the likes of YC who can provide the required safety net. Not because we are mentally unfit to do it for the wild reasons you described, but just because the circumstances aren’t right.
Running even a small business is a great way to create more value for the world, but yes, it requires some sacrifices—and if you don’t have the leeway to make those sacrifices, ruining yourself is probably the worst way to go about it.
Take it easy!
But the fact that you're posting on here while complaining that you don't have time tells me you just don't want to do it enough for it to ever be worthwhile.
I still have time to, say, occasionally exercise or have a walk or deal with life chores or get out with friends once in a while, but if I stop doing those things that would hurt my health/life and therefore my ability to work even further, as I know from experience.
As to HN, I read it mostly when I can’t sleep or in public transport.
I don’t watch or have TV.