Became complacent, lost my dream job and career

For the last decade I've been a fairly high profile concept artist in the games industry. I've always loved art and drawing, and when I got the opportunity to do it for a career and make decent money doing it, I thought I'd hit the jackpot. For 10 years I've been riding that high, but slowly losing my love of drawing and art whilst doing it.

I began to get burnout. I stopped drawing for fun. I started comparing myself to everyone else. I started watching my peers surpass me in skill and recognition. This happened over a period of years, so it was kind of like that 'frog in a slow boiling pot' analogy, where I didn't really recognize that this was all effecting me more than I realized because it was so gradual.

I still like art, but I had other loves too. Stuff that I became increasingly more passionate about, like nature and travel.

I started resenting my job. But I was getting paid really well. I got an opportunity in Vancouver that I accepted (I secretly just wanted to be closer to mountains and ocean) so I moved across the world and got citizenship.

I got into a relationship, too. I started focusing on my love life. I hit my 30s and wanted to think about settling down.

I never outright hated my job, but I was starting to really really lose interest in it. It must've shown.

About a month ago they fired me. It was a brutal firing, too. They put me down and the whole thing was a little traumatising tbh. They handled it poorly and it left me feeling worthless. They told me that they wouldn't give me a positive recommendation, despite my 5 years employment. Their negative recommendation could potentially be death to my art career.

So here I am. Recognizing that I let myself become too comfortable with a job I wasn't enjoying. Unemployed and absolutely clueless about what to do next.

I have a partner, I moved country, I have bills, I can't afford to do something like "go backpacking to rediscover myself".. I'm too old for that, now. I have too many responsibilities and I need an income.

I've started frantically applying to any job similar to my last one, because it's all I know and it's my only experience. But I know it's probably a pointless move, as I'll just end up hating it most likely, and if they ask for a recommendation I'd be screwed.

I'm so lost. I've always thought this would be my career. I just thought that the negative feelings I had towards creating art for corporations was kinda just "normal" for any artist working in that world.

I can't afford to go back to school. I live in Vancouver, and it's insanely expensive, and I'm tied here due to my partner. I feel trapped. But I also feel overwhelmed that my next move will dictate my future, and I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing.

Sorry to vent. I'm just overwhelmed. I'm a great artist. That's my only skill. Not great enough to be competitive anymore, it seems though. Especially now that AI has become more prevalent in my industry, too. I have no other skills, though. Art absorbed my life for 10 years. I might like other things like hiking and nature, but i have no education or skills in either to become an environmentalist, for example.

What do you do when you dedicated a life to something you no longer enjoy, or no longer is a viable career option?