In terms of physics, case 3 is still very exciting. This may implies that we will need new guiding principles for building new physics theories. That's very exciting as such.

Unfortunately, this may be harder on the political level. As this is were we need to go to have the next generation of colliders been built. I honestly do not know the possible outcome. And I can only hope. I am still too young to be part of those who will convince the decision-makers. I can only watch (and study physics ^^ ).

To jump towards the second item of your message, particle physics is a tough field (although I don't know whether it is tougher than other fields. Probably not.). After the PhD, our guys usually go through postdocs and postdocs before possibly dreaming of getting a job. And here, less than 1% of the applicants will actually get something.

However, having a PhD in physics, spending some time here and there as a postdoc also bring experiences. A PhD teaches you how to solve complicated problems, persevere to solve them, etc... Some experience also searched for by private companies. So that I believe that it is not a loss of time. And you also participate to something big. Very big. And this is cool!

In any case, good luck with your career! Quantum computing is also a very exciting field!