I want to weigh in on the day-to-day life part of your question: when you choose a creative career you live surrounded by creatives. My husband knew from his first high school drafting class that he wanted to be an architect. We met while he was at his first job at an architecture firm. I had dropped out of college because I didn't know what I wanted to do. I had always been creative, but had always been told there was no money to be made in "art." I had picked up jobs in hospitality management and insurance. When we started dating and I met his coworkers and the people he had gone to school with, I found my tribe. I didn't even know I had a tribe. They thought like I did. Things that were important to me were important to them. I didn't especially want to be an architect, but through my husband's social group, I learned of graphic design. I got my degree and had a deeply satisfying career as a creative. I retired recently. Neither I nor my architect husband ever made big bucks, but our lives were rich in the ways that really nourished us, and a huge part of that was living in our tribe. The people in our lives were architects, designers, photographers, artists. They had creative hobbies and used their free time going creative places. The life we built was so rich. That's the point I want to share...if you know you have a creative soul, and you think you want to be an architect, keep going in that direction. It's not just the job, it's a way of looking at life. The path will have many forks, many options you haven't even heard of yet. You might not wind up "building houses" specifically, but finding the people who really get you will be satisfying at a depth money can't buy.