I am in a similar place. . . .a professional writer since I was 24, freelance journalist and then staff writer at a daily newspaper. The first personal essay I posted to Medium was picked up by Human Parts & generated about $800. I was thrilled, as $ was similar to freelance articles without the hustle. But turns out it was just luck. The next week they changed how pay was calculated and I've earned pennies on most things since, including essays published on other Medium magazines. Out of curiousity, I wrote one piece on how to make money on Medium and it did get higher than average reads (for me) but very little money and, like you, I have zero interest in reading or writing such things at this point in my life.