I would disagree and say that the childhood poverty/deprivation will very likely have influenced OP's situation.
I grew up similarly, and recall that recreational pastimes were heavily discouraged in favour of academic achievement and ladder-climbing.
As a child, we don't know any better, and simply do whatever our our parents/caregivers say is critical for success as an adult.
But then one day you find yourself with a large block of free time, as OP did, with nobody to tell you how to spend it, and you realize you have no idea what to do with it. If you didn't have the opportunity to engage in fun and rewarding hobbies while growing up, it's very hard to develop those feelings anew when doing them as an adult.
I grew up similarly, and recall that recreational pastimes were heavily discouraged in favour of academic achievement and ladder-climbing.
As a child, we don't know any better, and simply do whatever our our parents/caregivers say is critical for success as an adult.
But then one day you find yourself with a large block of free time, as OP did, with nobody to tell you how to spend it, and you realize you have no idea what to do with it. If you didn't have the opportunity to engage in fun and rewarding hobbies while growing up, it's very hard to develop those feelings anew when doing them as an adult.