Do you ever wonder what life would have been like had you chosen a more standard path? Does everyone have these doubts sometimes? We wanted to find out and so we asked as many talented artists and creatives as we could and have shared highlights below.

Gbk

I’m happy and blessed to be doing this. I know there’s not a lot of people who can do what I do at a young age but I always remind myself of that. On the other side though, I do think of having a “normal” job sometimes, being somebody who’s not GBK. I think about that a lot. There could be a day where GBK no longer makes music. Read more>>

Davonté Burse

I am happy as an artist. As an artist your art and everything that you do creatively is an extension of you. It also feels like having a superpower in a way, if that makes any sense. I’m specifically an actor and I love what I do. I don’t necessarily think about what it would be like to work a regular job because I’ve worked plenty of “regular jobs”. In addition, I currently work at a job that would be considered regular. I don’t think most people realize that your average actor is an everyday working class individual. We work to fund our lives, to fund our art and dreams. Read more>>

Blessing Culver

The question of whether I’m happier as an artist is one that I find myself thinking about often. Recently, I told someone that I was an artist, and they asked if I just do it for fun. That was really difficult for me to answer, as while creating art often brings me joy, saying that it’s for fun would feel like a betrayal to myself. Art forces one to consider life at a deeper level and forces one to look at themselves and their place in the larger context of the world. I often wonder if my art matters, if it’s worthwhile to pursue. I compare myself to others, and I struggle to choose a path for my art. Ideas swirl in my mind and choosing one can feel impossible. For these reasons, I have often been fascinated with existentialist writers and artists, and they have helped me find reasons to continue pursuing art. Read more>>

Aisha Suramayeva

It’s been 4 years since I started doing makeup professionally. Before that, since childhood, I had a passion for art and design, I drew a lot of paintings, nature, cartoons, etc. By the time I turned 14, I was in school in Kazakhstan, and usually after 9th grade, you can go to college to get a secondary education. I knew I was good at drawing, and I wanted to study something close to design, art, and fashion. It took me a long time to decide on a profession, and my parents suggested that I study finance and accounting, because financial education is always useful. That’s how I spent 3 years of my life studying accounting in college and 3 years at university. In 2021, when I was studying at the university, I also took a professional makeup course. Read more>>

Mackensie Bennett

Since starting my business it has been my primary source of income. Luckily business has grown each year, but it is still not a lot of money. Every market is a mental roller coaster that I’m still learning to navigate and have faith through. When sales are slow going, or when I have vet bills or when filing taxes, you betcha I mentally consider going a different route with my career. But I believe that I would not be happier having the financial stability of a regular job. My purpose is to create, and I am an artist down to my soul. If I were to devote my time elsewhere it would be a disservice to myself and my mental health would likely suffer. Read more>>

Lorette C. Luzajic

There’s no question that being an artist and writer is the most fulfilling and meaningful life for me. I’m not sure it is a question of happiness, even, but a matter of following my calling and the core of my identity and purpose. It is simply who I am. Perhaps the issue is rather how best to manifest that destiny in a way that works as work. Because even if I was doing something else, I would still be who I am. I believe that other kinds of work are also very important, and it could be easier to work in a traditionally stable profession, because I would still be an artist and writer no matter what! Read more>>

Brittany Anne Baum

Being able to be an artist full time has allowed me to have freedom I honestly never thought I’d be able to have. For as long as I could remember, I always felt my unhappiest whenever I felt limited or restrained from doing what I wanted. For me, freedom is currency. Freedom brings me the upmost joy, so being able to do this for a living has made me extremely grateful. Read more>>

Lynn Loheide

I have been working as a professional piercer for 13 years, and it is truly a dream come true. However, it is nothing like working a “regular job”. There is that adage, do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life. And very often this is true- I wake up full of excitement and passion for what I get to do, and when I am sharing a magical moment with a client in my piercing room it does not feel like work in the slightest, it feels like community, connection, and love. But there is also the take on the adage “do what you love and you’ll never stop working, ” which is also very true. When you are passionate about something, it can become all-consuming. Read more>>

Eva Kelley

I am very fortunate and grateful to be a creative entrepreneur. I have a spouse that has a reliable job with good benefits. I think about getting a “regular job” at least once a week, because the simplicity of collecting a steady paycheck and having a typical schedule can be alluring, especially in unpredictable times. It can also be challenging to battle the mindset that financial income is the superior contribution to a family. Read more>>

Judson Womack

Absolutely happy. Fairly early on after finishing my undergraduate degree, my then-partner suggested I look for full-time “office” work even to just experience that kind of lifestyle. We eventually broke up, but I followed their advice and ended up working in medical publishing for two years before starting my MFA. That experience had a profound affect on my relationship to my practice in that, for all the wonderful stability and structure of a “regular” life, it felt like postponing the inevitable. Every day was eight hours until I could do this thing I was and am still so deeply excited by. To be able to look back on that experience, particularly when things get difficult, and say “Remember how much you hated that?” has been invaluable and I always urge my undergraduate students to consider that type of experience after graduating. Read more>>

Kaleb Sanders

I couldn’t be more excited and happy about my career as an artist and creative. There hasn’t been a single moment where I’ve reflected on my life and thought that I’d rather be pursuing a ‘regular’ job. I have no regrets over the path that I’ve chosen because, before I dove into music full time, I had spent time working in different fields experiencing the 9-5 life and quickly realized that it wasn’t for me at all. All I wanted to do was write and make music and sing that music in front of people. Have there been hard times and moments of struggle? Of course, but I would never trade it for anything. Read more>>

Melissa Gust

Oof, this is something I think about more frequently than most. Being an artist is no joke. I think society looks at an artist like they’re just playing around or refusing to “get a real job”. I had that “real job” out of college and lost it at the start of COVID-19. Little do most people know is that there’s so much more to it than that. Being a full time artist means that you’re not only the one creating the work, but you also have to be the marketer, salesperson, bookkeeper, shipper, customer service, quality control, and do all the grunt work. I feel that ceramics is especially difficult because each individual piece is handmade and is true to itself along with so much grunt work behind the scenes. Most two dimensional artists sell prints of their works but that’s not an option for ceramics. Read more>>

Zach Evans

“Happier” is hard to pinpoint for me. I don’t fully understand what life would be like without creating art; it’s become how I think. That said, WORKING as a creative is an entirely separate discussion. Making a living in the arts is as rewarding as it is disheartening. You see some of your friends reach heights you never thought possible, and you watch your other friends sell their spark in exchange for a can of beans. Being an artist for a living is an incredible and rare privilege, but it can also strip you of who you are. I lost myself for a long time; I was not expressing my interests in any real way, and I was taking jobs to have more on my plate. Read more>>

Tegan Galipeau

I was lucky to start my career early through my high school’s cosmetology program. While most of my friends were stressing over college applications, I was already behind the chair, doing what I loved. But I’d be lying if I said I never wondered what it would be like to take the more “traditional” route. Read more>>