I dare to say the problem is not even Bitcoin itself,b you just got unlucky.

I had a substantial savings many years ago... Due many wrong choices I've made and some lack of luck, everything just vanished.

Sometimes "shit happens" that's the fact... Maybe you've could done things different but you know what... You took the risk, you got the balls to do it...

How worse could have been if you dropped the project and suddenly everything skyrocketed?

You simply don't know... Forgive yourself, stop self pitty and move on.