Ask HN: How the heck do you go from freelance dev to mid-senior level dev?

I'm struggling to get back on my feet following divorce (18 years), depression, losing 2 parents my mom and the grandma who actually raised me - all in a 3 month period, well mom died the first month after separation in March, Grandma died a week after the divorce was final in June... (see: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40714641).

I've revamped my resume 100 different ways, and it actually seems since i broke off my clients into their own jobs basically it is worse, but it looks more professional according to mine and Claude's opinion lol.

I'm 44, I've been using Laravel for 11 years, I'm full-stack. I've played with go, rust, and built small projects in python for clients. Of course JS ecosystem (react, vue, svelte, nextjs, prisma, etc).

I'd like a job that actually pays me what I'm worth, or well better than I get freelancing ($40). I haven't raised my rates since 2017, probably my first problem there. I was afraid I wouldn't find clients, but I'm not finding any now either... So might as well not find ones that pay me $80 an hour, right? Or maybe I actually find one..

Anyways, how do I get into a decent company -- startup, FAANG, w/e... I'd be super happy with $120k+.

If anyone has tips or suggestions, I'm all ears. I'm sure I'm not the only one in this boat either.