Engine Honestly, should I just give up?

I have fixed up several 2nd gen Escorts. One feature I like is that from 91 through 96, the engines and transmissions are about identical, though the 92 and 93 non-California cars didnt have EGR. In each case I had lots of other fix up work to do, so hoisted the engine and transmissions out still bolted together. I rebuilt five of the auto transmissions, put new clutches & shift bushings in the two that were 5-speeds.
The engine work involved taking each block to a machine shop for cleaning and honing, and in 3 cases milling a few thousandths off the top of the block. Then putting the used pistons back in, with new rings. Also new main seals, new freeze plugs, and a usually rebuilt engine head with new intake valve seat inserts.
And of course other minor stuff that is sooo much easier when the engine is out of the bay; new water pump, new hoses, new timing belt, new power steering pump, new thermostat, etc.
This was all sequential, about one vehicle each year or two.
I once bought a JY engine to get some spare parts; one of the best $200 I ever spent. So far have always put back into the car the engine that came with it when I bought it. Each of mine was bought as-is, and non-driveable.
I dont have a lift, most of my work is done outside on a gravel driveway under a large shade tree. I just have enough workshop space to do the engine work under a roof.

I am retired, so have much more time than money. Now I own five 2nd gen Escorts, being 3 wagons and 2 hatchbacks, and the wife and I use all of them for daily drivers, since we live in two places seasonally. Have also supplied my kids with cars (escorts). We drive them all across the USA and into Mexico too. And Im 74, so some work is not so easy anymore.

Its natural to get tired of doing fix after fix to a car. My method involves having the car apart for maybe weeks, then getting several years steady anxiety free of use out of it. At some point in the life of any and every car, it will need more than just repairing what failed yesterday.
Remember that 100% of the cars at every antique car show were fixed up by hobbyists who put huge amounts of time and energy into a car whose market value did not justify it.

So much can depend on whether the owner has a place to keep it if not in common use, and has a place where they can work on it. I dont have a HOA or any convenants where I live in VA, and at our place in TX, most of our neighbors have a couple of derelict cars behind their hoiuses.