I had 2 'day jobs' in my life, neither one worked out because I prefer being a musician.
Yes, it is going to work, but I love my job. I would play music for free if I was independently wealthy.
The most work to me is schlepping the gear, and it keeps me fit. I don't need a gym membership.
Learning new songs is interesting, performing them for an appreciative audience is blissful.
Plus, I am of retirement age, with zero debt, but I have no plans to retire. Why should I? I can truly say I'm having the time of my life on my job.
And not all of us are the 'poor starving artist' types.
I live in a house that is paid off. It's on a half acre, about 200 feet from the eastern coast of the mainland of Florida. I take vacations every non-covid year, and I've been to much of Canada, 49 US states, from Mexico down to Costa Rica, plenty of European countries, China, Africa, Australia, and quite a few Caribbean Islands.
Now, I'm not wealthy by any stretch of the imagination. If I had pursued the Cable TV engineering career that I started in one of my day jobs, I would have made a lot more money in my life. But I really didn't like the job, so I'm happier now.
Life is short, to be happy is the true success in life.
It's not a badge of honor that I'm making a living doing music and nothing but music, it's what I do for a living. I'm proud that I'm good at it, I'm happy that I enjoy my work, I like playing any kind of music, including pop music, and if I could go back in time and do it again, I'd still choose to be a career musician.
I have a friend who is an engineer, and is happy about being an engineer, as I am a musician. And I know a lot of other people who quit their job in a minute if they could afford to.
Those of us who earn a living doing something that we love to do are the lucky ones.
Insights and incites by Notes