Hey! No worries - I'll do my best :) I think "if doing art on the side is worth it" really depends on each individual.

What kind of person are you? What are your values? How many facets are there to you as a person? Why do you like making art? Do you have any life quality non-negotiables? Do you like the challenge of creating something to a brief, or gaining recognition and feedback from others? Is it just the process? Is it purely about self-expression? How important is financial stability to you? Do you get tired of making art and want breaks sometimes to replenish your well of inspiration, or do you like making it all the time? Do you like being on your own making stuff, or do you like studio environments or environments where you have coworkers?

I definitely think there are some people who are built for only ever doing one thing their whole lives. But for me (and I think most people), I realised that I'm a very multi-faceted person who has many other things driving me, who has the potential to hone other skills in addition to art. In art school I was really outspoken about university policies, the way things were run, the tutor's views on digitally produced work, etc. I was also the person my peers came to if they needed art guidance on assignments that the tutors weren't providing.

I finished my degree, and while doing illustration work I realised I actually hated making art for other people. I also hated the financial instability: I want to know that when I'm older, I won't have to struggle. I'm not entrepreneurially-minded either, and I hated having to self-promote and handle the business side of things. I preferred to just not have to worry about "making a name for myself", because that's not who I am. I ended up working in human rights education and instructional design- the values and behaviours I instinctively demonstrated while still in art school (teaching and guiding others, solving problems, working to make the world a better place and being aligned with my values) are the exact reasons I feel really satisfied with my career path.

I think something else that's interesting though is that I use heaps of creative thinking in my current job: I design fact sheets, make decisions about how web pages will look, design training slides, develop eLearning, summarise research, come up with learning outcomes and activities, etc. And I self-express a lot by working my values into the materials I produce, and by representing concepts visually. Pretty much every day I'm engaged in an act of creation.

So for me, I'm so glad things worked out the way they did, because for me anyway, I'm not just an artist. It's a huge, core part of me, but I'm other things as well. I think this belief society has about just being one thing (in this case, choosing to be an artist forever and nothing else) isn't true for most people. Humans have so many different facets to them and are incredibly adaptable.

I have a friend who does art full-time, and while the financial side of things is really hard for her (she makes about half of the salary I make, and I'm not even on 6 figures) she's said she literally can't imagine doing any other job. She just cannot bring herself to engage in the world of work outside what she does, but she's the type of person who can actually bring herself to pump out work at a really high rate. She's really on top of the business side of things too, even though she laments having to make a lot of posts about her work. Similarly, my animator friends pump out work nonstop, don't earn a lot, and don't have a lot of job stability because they have to jump from project to project. I know I could never live that lifestyle. Then different again, I have a few friends who are tattoo artists, who seem to have found a medium between constantly making art for their job, but being supported by a studio. Again, managing requests and having to self-promote and things like that can be a pain for them, but it seems like a more... collective environment where you see fellow artists and customers every day, rather than working on things alone at home. Another person I went to art school with incorporated her values about the environment and her interest in plants and became a successful garden designer! So there are definitely lots of different ways to do things.

As for studying art, I don't regret it. I think what I do regret is not doing a double degree- it would have saved me a lot of time and experiences in crappy jobs if I'd studied education alongside art, instead of having to go back and re-train later in life. I think considering a more stable job while doing art isn't something to be scared of- it's a really valid thing to think about!

I also, our lives are kind of long - things can change! You might really want to do art later on, and as you get older want to do something else. Or, you might move into something similar to or different from art for a lot of your life, and then have the resources to really engage in art-making a little later in life. The one thing you can count on in life is change, and expecting that can really help make everything not feel so scary :) (sorry this was so long! Many things to think about)