Is it natural to wonder what life would have been like had you chosen a different path? Is it common? We asked many artists and creatives from all over the country if they’ve ever wondered about whether they should have pursued a more standard career path to see what we could learn from their stories.

Stacy Daugherty

For me, there can be mixed emotions being an artist/creative. One minute I’m flying high from my newest collection of images, excited to share them with the world. Then life happens and I feel like I just want to go back to the routine and security of a regular job. The last time I felt this way was last year when some major life events left me unable to work or create. Read more>>

Rachel Reinert

Being an artist, specifically a fine artist – is inherently an isolated job. There’s always room for collaboration of course, but being a painter and illustrator means hours of alone time. Depending on the project I’m working on, there may be little or no input, so it’s a job without co-workers or accountability. I’ve found that I am definitely the happiest creating, and I do feel like I’ve found what I’m supposed to be and do with my life. However, it doesn’t mean it’s not hard or lonely sometimes! Read more>>

Danielle Lazala

Being a creator really does make me happy. Art has always been a way for me to express how I feel and/or distress when I’m feeling overwhelmed. My full-time job is being a mental health technician at a behavioral hospital which can sometimes be really stressful. I do love what I do and after all, it is a very rewarding job. I love helping others struggling with mental health and this is where I tie my job and passion together. Using the arts to help others cope makes both of my worlds come together and become more special and meaningful. Read more>>

Nora Boror

Im my happies as an artist/creative there has been time not too often. I have wondered how different my life would be had I chose a career, that was not art related. Im sure I wouldn’t be as happy in my life as I’ve been. Nothing made me feel like art makes me feel. Being myself is hard to do at a “regular job.” Even thou I have had people believe in me and support my creative needs in a regular work environments. Read more>>

N Hail

This is definitely a question I have asked myself. My initial reaction is to say yes, of course I am, because my creative life, especially music, brings me most of my sense of fulfillment, self-actualization, and accomplishment. I feel that by sharing music with others, whether it be through my own music, through teaching, or through sharing musical experiences, I am fulfilling my purpose, although sometimes it’s hard to say exactly what that purpose is. Read more>>

CBD (akak Chris Brent Davis)

About once a week I ask myself, “Would I be happier working at McDonalds and performing as a drag queen on the weekends?” And as funny as that might sound, it’s something that I have heavily considered a lot over the past two years. This thought popped into my head early 2020 (pre-pandemic). If not for the pandemic keeping us all at home, processing our lives and how we fit into the world around us, you might’ve been reading an article about a drag queen and not a music director. Read more>>

Nick Abstract

Absolutely. There are moments when on your own as a business owner/artist that are so freeing and unlimited. Not having someone dictate whether or not what you’re making is right or wrong is a power that few are ever able to wield to achieve their goals. I do not ever take this for granted. It’s important for me to try hard to humble myself and pinch myself when things are going well. Like any job though, it’s not what it seems from the outside looking in. There are many doom and gloom days of suffering and torment that present themselves every now and again. I guess it’s all about how you ride them waves and stay afloat, baby. haha. Read more>>

Zeke Jeremiah

I would say I am happier as a creative. I honestly don’t think about what it would be like to have a regular job anymore because I was there about 7 months ago. It really got me to a place where I had to give up the regular 9-5 to really pursue the dream as a Director and Producer. During the end of my “regular job”, I really debated on whether to step out on faith and go after this full time or continue in the security of it all. Read more>>

Princess Elmore

I’m definitely happier as an artist, its always been such a Passion to perform on stage and on camera, wouldn’t change it for nothing in the World. Yes I’ve thought about going back to work a regular job every single time I do not book a role that I felt like I worked so hard to get, every time my auditions slow down, every time I feel that maybe I might be a little over me head in this industry, and sometimes when I lose a little confidence in my craft, so Yelp I think about working a regular job during those low periods but then I realize that this is My dream job something that I’ve been working towards all my life, Read more>>

Michelle Green

There were times in my life that I questioned if I was living life to the fullest. There was always this feeling that I needed to express myself and create. Sometimes I felt like this feeling was a burden because regular jobs seemed very unfulfilling unless I was able to be creative in some way. I realized the jobs I had were just stepping stones on the way to a more spiritually lucrative future. When I picked up the paintbrush and pursued the tradition art journey is when my life really began. Having a regular job was no longer in the cards for me. Painting and owning my own art business gives me so much joy and allows me to bring joy to others. Read more>>

Alex Passakos

I have had several “regular” jobs throughout my life, with the most recent one being a few years ago when I thought I wanted to leave ‘The Industry’ and get a regular day job. I won’t mention what type of work I was in, because it’s a great industry that a lot of my good friends are still currently in, but I was miserable waking up every day to go sit at a desk. After about a year I realized it just wasn’t for me and I jumped back into the nightlife and ended up opening Booze Garden with my good friends Ritchie and Riste, which was by far one of the best decisions I ever made. Read more>>

Heather Nagy

I left my job as a graphic designer to pursue becoming a full-time artist in 2018. I’ve always loved having creative outlets and dreamed of being an artist as a child. Yet as a young adult I was still finding my style, and my voice and wasn’t ready to be painting full time. So I studied graphic design and worked in that field for almost 20 years. Creating more traditional art was something I did just for me, carving out time to do something that was life-giving. However, there was a growing discontent. Read more>>

Maria Sonia Martin

I am very happy to be an artist. It took some years of working in other fields in order for me to realize that a career as a visual artist was my life’s ‘calling. Upon graduating from high school, I entered a two year college where I majored in fine art, with the goal of continuing my education in a four year school. Right before graduating from the two year college, I got cold feet. Since I do not come from an affluent family, one which might offer financial help during the early stages of such a career, Read more>>

Claude McCan

When I first left Texas to attend Tulane University I had a firm plan to study and become a psychotherapist because I had been helped a lot by a psychologist my parents sent me to when I was having problems in high school. As I stared to play music professionally that plan fell by the way side. After many years of being a bandleader, sideman and producer however, I have found that , other than purely musical skills, you really need the skillset of a psychotherapist to perform these jobs correctly. Read more>>

Sofi Gutiérrez

I actually have a regular job! I work as graphic designer for a marketing agency, so what I often wonder is what it would be like to have a full time job as an artist. For now, and while I’m still in the process of growing, I like the fact that I have both my regular job and my creative, side job, and, if I’m being totally honest, even though my main goal is to be able to earn a living from my art, I wouldn’t want to just turn off my design skills, as I really enjoy doing that too. So my deal would be to turn things around: make art my regular job and do some freelancing design every now and then :) Read more>>

R3AL

Yes, I’m happy as a creative and I work a regular job to fund my creativity. I believe if I didn’t have a regular job I would still be a creative, however, it would be difficult to do what I need to do without a regular job. Now would I want to stay at a regular job for this rest of my life? No! Because that’s not the life I see for myself. I use to think that if I worked a regular job my dreams would die, but that’s not the case. A regular job motivates me to go harder at what I’m pursuing as a creative. I also had to reverse my thoughts of when it came to a regular job. I let them use me for my time, so how about I use them for their time and money? Ha! Sounds smart to me. Read more>>

Selva Celeste

Yes, I certainly take great pleasure in making art and it is something I prioritize in my life. However, owning my own photography business full-time did not leave me much energy for creative projects. So, I fell back on my massage therapy degree and have been working with the military in a wellness capacity ever since. Owning my own mobile practice has helped re-direct my energy and take the pressure off constantly creating. Read more>>

Kristin Rucker

To an extent I believe we are all born with a creative capacity. What that particularly is found on what we call “the journey of life.” As I began my entrepreneurial pottery business, I look back and connect all the dots of the unexpected moments which serendipitously brought me to know I’ve made the right moves to fulfill my life’s purpose. I don’t have to wonder what it would be like to have a regular job. Like many of us, finding the faith and courage to pursue a dream is a game of time. Read more>>

Vinceaun Minto

I am definitely happier as a creative/artist because it enables me to have limitless freedom. I am able to essentially work anytime I want while also choosing the projects that I want while constantly pushing my skills to the next level. Despite this, I can also say that I oftentimes ponder the idea of having a “regular job”. Why? It’s because I sometimes feel as though it would be less stressful and give me more time to focus on my other ambitions. Read more>>

Hannah Jacoby-Brooks

There are always moments in the life of an artist where either society, parents, teachers, friends, or sometimes strangers will express their opinions on what an artist is and how they can support themselves in an “easy” job, such as art making. It is difficult to tune those people out and to focus on what is truly meaningful and special about being a creator. So, yes I have thought what it would be like to have a “regular” job, but I haven’t seriously considered it in many years.  Read more>>

Gini Koch

I didn’t grow up thinking I’d be in the creative arts and I ended up arts adjacent, because my career prior to becoming a fulltime author was in marketing and advertising. I was in small to mid-sized agencies in Los Angeles and midway through my career I joined IBM. I loved marketing and I loved my jobs (well, most of them). I learned a tremendous amount at the agencies and in Corporate America. All of which made me a savvy businesswoman, meaning I understood that publishing was a business before I ever wrote anything that wasn’t for work. Read more>>