Before you go looking at wheels, you need to consider what kind of hubs you have. Thru-axle hubs of two different dimensions (Boost–the new, new thing, and non-Boost) are pretty standard now, whereas it appears that you have 9mm QR (quick release) hubs. Finding quality wheels with those hubs might be difficult (or maybe not, sometimes you can score some pretty good deals on obsolescent stuff). If you do indeed have 9mm QR hubs, then your new wheels, if you bought some, would probably be useless on a newer bike.
Other than “consumables” like tires and grips, the other meaningful upgrade would be an air fork. It appears that your bike has a Suntour coil fork. An air fork will increase your riding pleasure fairly dramatically. Suntour has an upgrade program for any coil fork (made by anyone) that can get you into an air fork for $200-250. And that’s about the point where the cost of upgrading starts to get questionable vs. buying a new, better bike.
1x is nice, but it’s kind of a fancy luxury and unless you are having a lot of problems with your chain slack and front derailleur, won’t “change your life.” An air fork might. With an 8-9 speed rear derailleur, it might be a bigger hassle than it’s worth.