I'll start with this. Fuck the past. You can have whatever life you want, now. I've known people who quickly turned their life around. When only a few weeks prior they were broke.

I think you have to change your mindset. If you think your life is terrible it's going to be terrible. Take things one small step at a time. As humans we're impatient and what to see immediate results. But that never works. It's more important to make consistent progress over time.