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.

Connor Fiehler

Being a creative can toy with your head like crazy, but it’s worth it because I find that pursuing what you are most passionate about will fulfill you more than anything else ever could. I would certainly consider myself a happy person, but that doesn’t mean that I always love my job or have a clear path within it. I’m still very much trying to figure out what I want to do with my life, which I’m sure will be the way I feel for the rest of my life. Read more>>

Angela Madaline-Johnson

I sometimes drive my oldest son to school in the mornings, in my yoga pants & sweatshirt, sans makeup, and I am often both grateful and envious of the teachers I see helping with the student carline. I look at them–put together and already working at something important at first thing in the morning–the education of our kids, and I think “Wow. Read more>>

Shayda Velasco

I am definitely more happy as an artist/creative. Sure, sometimes it’s difficult because you’re chosing to follow your dreams which isn’t as sure of a thing as a 9-5 salary job, however I don’t have it in me to not do what I love. Have I thought of what it would be like to have a 9-5? sure I have, and I always knew it wasn’t for me even before realizing my passion and my dream. Read more>>

Darryl Reynolds

To answer the question, yes, I am happier as a creative. I believe, like a lot of creatives these days, I had a vision for what life was going to be before I completely jumped in. But unlike most creatives, I was forced into my creative career in a way that felt just as traumatic as it was liberating. In 2018, I came back to my home in Philadelphia and immediately started working on basketball skills with the single-minded goal of making the NBA. Read more>>

Fùnké

Although, it is by no means easy, I find my work as a creative very fulfilling knowing that I am doing what I am supposed to do on this plane of demonstration. I look at my mother and many others relative to me who chose to focus on obtaining their slice of the “American Pie” while sacrificing the tending of their creative gardens and overall joy in doing things they loved. I think we are all surviving capitalism in our own way yet, Read more>>

Spencer Haddad

Personally I’m very happy as an artist and a creative. I do have a job outside of this band though. I work as a musical instrument rental technician. Its always been a goal of mine to make working in music my full time source of income. Whether its playing professionally as a guitarist or working in live music i just wanted to make it part of my life. Playing in my band Marvel of Decay is a lot of fun and is actually profitable in and of itself. Read more>>

Sarah Wright

On those days where I’ve had one too many espressos, and the rejections are coming in hot and fast I wonder about what it’s like to have a more traditional job. Or when I’m trying to create a photography direction that’s creative and inspired while simultaneously cold-emailing agencies to introduce myself and following up on overdue invoices from my phone because I’m on my way to dinner, Read more>>

Rachel Berger

Am I happy being a creative? The simple answer is a resounding yes! But for me it been a winding road to fully get there. I was born to be a creative spirit…it’s just in my blood! My motto is: “The Beauty Is All In The Unique Details”. As early as a toddler, my dad photographed me sitting in a big field, holding and zeroing in on a single blade of grass, totally enamored. Read more>>

Ellen Walker

There have been many days I think about what it would be like to just have a “regular” job. I think this comes up most often when my business is in a slow season financially or my work has begun to feel uninspired. I do my best to take those moments as a chance to shift and realign. Read more>>

Schesser Bartra

Yes, I am happier at this point of my life. Could be because I had a full carrier as a scientist before and I felt that it was the appropriate time to switch, to quit being a scientist, to take my art to the next level, until that point as was doing Art but not fulltime. I wanted to try to make a difference for others as well rather that only for myself. Read more>>

Diana Staver

Since I was a small girl, I have always been a creative person. I liked to analyze people, how are they dressed, and what hairstyle & makeup they have. Whenever in school there would be an event like a holiday or party, all the girls would ask me to do their hair, because I was so good at it. My first full-time job was working in an office, constantly having to deal with paperwork. Later, I worked in various domains. While I was getting paid for it, it did not make me feel happy and having in a purpose in my job. Read more>>

Cass Clayton

That’s an interesting question, because I enjoy my work, but I don’t place a ton of value on happiness. I know that sounds weird, but the pressure to be happy can keep people from accepting life as it is. For me, whatever mood I am is fine and it can be used. I mean, you can really suck the life out of a sad memory and write a beautiful song. Or you can also be happy and not be able to write a word. Creativity is a moody bitch. But I love her, and I really love the process even though it’s kind of messy. Read more>>

Jack Blocker

It can be really difficult to measure productivity as an artist compared to other professions. I think I have this idealized picture of “regular jobs” where every hour of the day is plotted out and you just complete the tasks in front of you to be productive. That’s probably not always the case but i do envy how easy it seems to get from point A to point B in that scenario. Mentally it’s difficult for me to manage trial and error as an artist. Read more>>

Antonio Griffin

I have always enjoyed being an artist. The feelings received from bringing an idea to life is unmatched and numerous times I tried to see if the same feelings can be replicated but I have yet to find anything. Looking back on the last time I worked a regular job I was unhappy because the time that was spent working could have been used for creating. Read more>>

Raeven Smith

Yea I think I was sitting at home on my day off from my slightly above minimum wage job. I hadn’t touched a paint brush in weeks. I hadn’t stepped in a dance class in days. I hadn’t looked at my sewing machine in almost a month. My heart was heavy with grief of the loss of family members and my body struggling with a few health problems of my own. Read more>>

James Thigpen Jr.

There’s no difference in an artist and creative, in my opinion. If you’re not a creative then you’re recording exactly what you see, no imagination, no thought, just a machine. I’m happy being both. Read more>>

Xiran Luo

So far I’m happier as an artist. But being an artist, especially a freelancer, is a job that is destined to be surrounded by anxiety. I’ve been browsing job-hunting websites a lot lately because I’m often stuck in a free period without any job. I don’t think a stable job and being an artist are contradictory in a way. If a stable job and my artwork are mutually beneficial, Read more>>

Jessica Wilson-Thille

This question truly brings to mind the phrase, ” the grass is always greener on the other side.” To say I am happier or more satisfied as an artist is hard for me to gauge, as I haven’t ever maintained a “normal” career in my 41 years on this planet. That said, I don’t think I “planned” to become a creative–it’s a part of who I am. Read more>>

Jozlyn Thomas

First and for most I will always be grateful to have been born with the raw talent that I have. I can honestly and truly say that I’m blessed to be able to make a living off of just being me and using the talents that I have in my bag. Now I will say sometimes I do ponder about what it would be like if I had perused the career that I wanted. I always told everybody growing up that I wanted to be a cardio thoracic surgeon. There is a story behind it though. Read more>>

Carly Gully

I wondered for a long time what working a 9 to 5 would be like, where my evenings, weekends and time alone would be for me. I was able to understand that feeling for a year working at a desk staring at excel spreadsheets and entering documents in. I felt like a robot, my evenings turned into the desire to just sleep, weekends felt like a painful reminder that Monday was coming, Read more>>

Aminah Anderson

Oh most definitely! Sometimes I have thought about just getting a regular job or going back to a 4 year in anthropology, especially on those not so great days as a creative. Last year was an example of that. I was in a bit of a funk and just not really feeling like things would progress like I wanted them to but in any scenario where I had to work for someone else has generally made me sadder and more anxious. Read more>>

Jessi Harris

I’ve never actually had an official “desk-job.” And holy s#$%, am I thankful for that. Before I started to pursue art full time, I worked long, late nights as a club/craft bartender. I loved it for the fast paced party and the slow boojee brûlées at the clubs and restaurants, and made decent money and even better friends along the way. Read more>>

Jamal Makin Shabazz

There was a time I would say I enjoy being an artist more than a creative and honestly, most times I see them as one in the same. There is an art to everything in life, you know? Even down to what is seemingly mundane activity. With that said, I’m learning that as an artist I don’t have to do everything. There are artists who are vastly more skilled at certain things than I am, especially when talking about putting a body of work together. Read more>>

Enrique Holmes

I actually do both. I have a full time job as a High School Teacher and currently pursuing my Master’s degree to become a principal. I’m the Worship & Performing Arts Pastor at my church and I’m a Gospel Artist. I realized before starting this journey as a Gospel Artist, that I would never do music exclusively. Read more>>

Aiden Layumas

Being a creative person is both a blessing and a curse. As someone who has dedicated his entire life to artistic endeavors, I can say that nothing else brings me more joy than getting lost in the ethereal flow of creation and then getting to share my final results with others. The curse takes its effect in several ways, including but not limited to the torment of going through the life experiences that inspire the art (the agony of Love and its counterpart Loss, encountering adversity through Traveling, Read more>>

Aiden Layumas

I actually chose this question being a person that works as an artist and maintains a regular job at the same time. I’ve worked as a full-time artist, previously, and it truly was one of the best times of my life. I enjoyed getting to work on my own schedule and being able to attend different shows an events whenever I wanted. Now (and for the last couple of years), I’ve been maintaining both working as an artist and working a “normal” job. Read more>>

Lindsey Dinneen

I love this question because I believe it doesn’t have to be an either/or scenario. In my career so far, I have had seasons of being a full-time performing and teaching artist, and seasons of being both a part-time artist and having a part-time “regular job,” and more recently, focusing mostly on my regular job and not doing as much artistically. Read more>>

Adam Brouillette

For the last 20 years, I’ve been self employed as an artist. It hasn’t always been easy, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. In the middle of that time, for a few weeks when money was tight, I decided I needed to get a job. I went and applied, got the job, and started working. Within the first few hours of being at the job, I felt like bugs were crawling all over me. Read more>>

BILL HART

I always think about what it would be like to have a 9 to 5 job. And I have tried to do that over the years. I’ve played professionally as a musician for 40 years. Naturally that has crossed my mind more than once. My whole life I’ve hung out with nothing but musicians. I have learned that this is a common trait we all share. I don’t believe it is a choice to be a musician/artist It’s not what I do, it’s who I am. Read more>>