make a life for oneself—construct a good, decent life for oneself (having a job, home, etc.):
- I don’t feel an affinity to any one place and am willing to move to almost anywhere in order to make a life for myself.
make a living for oneself—earn enough to support oneself:
- It was a time when a man with sufficient talent and extraordinary energy could reasonably hope to make a living for himself as a freelance writer.
See also: get a life / get life.