How can I remain steadfast in wearing the hijab, feel its worth and importance, and get rid of the idea that it is merely an attention-grabber in Western societies, or that modest clothing suffices, especially with the feeling of distress from people's gazes and the difficulty of finding work?

Your question about the hijab (definition) is not trivial if you seek to understand your religious obligation and act upon it. Salvation on the Day of Judgment and gaining Allah's pleasure come from obeying Him and submitting to His commands and prohibitions. Allah says: "But no, by your Lord, they can have no faith, until they make you [O Muhammad] judge in all disputes between them, and find in themselves no resistance against your decisions, and accept them with full submission." And Allah commanded women to wear the hijab in His saying: "O Prophet, tell your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers to bring down over themselves [part] of their outer garments. That is more suitable that they will be known and not be abused." And He forbade ostentatious display (tabarruj) in His saying: "And do not display yourselves as [was] the display of the former times of ignorance."