Need to pay for rent is quite literally need to pay back to other human beings for shelter, one of the most basic human needs. Why would it be a bad purpose in life?
If rent was only about paying other humans for shelter! It takes what -- a month of work? to house a person for a year. (Based on the assumption that about 8 % of the working population works in construction, building maintenance, and related areas.)
I'm happy to pay a month of my wages for a year of shelter. My rent is way, way higher than that.
Never judge value of something by how much it costs to produce, it's not fair. Judge it by how much people are willing to pay for it. And in most major metropolitan areas you're paying premium for your rent to outbid all other renters that would be ready to live in such a lucrative place.
In essence, you're paying back not only to people who work in construction, but to ask the people who made this city so desired, over many generations. It takes much more than a month of work per renter to create all the value that you get from living in New York or San Francisco.
If all you need is literally just shelter regardless of location, there's plenty of places around the globe where you could rent a perfectly good apartment for $300 per month.
Because conflating _need for purpose_ and _need to pay rent_ can be tricky business: they don’t always join neatly.
Happy they do for you!