If you need some more motivation/inspiration, read a book entitled 'Plane Crazy' by Sabine Hargreaves (dreadful title but it's an interesting story and is available on the South American river...)
Sabine managed to get herself into and through ATC college here in UK,
AFAIK without any formal sponsorship and when I met her she was fully licensed TWR and GND controller at Stansted, London's third airport. Somewhere along the way she acquired a PPL and then a CPL and Instructor's Rating. She then left ATC work to become a full-time instructor. This got her the hours for her I/R and the last I heard she was an F/O with Jet2 on the 737.
Oh, and I think she did all this in her second language; she was I believe born in Germany (and I think she's a little older than you).