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.

Mitchell Jaramillo And Siddharth Sharma

I mean, it definitely crosses our mind. How could it not when you’re constantly wondering where rent is coming from?? It’s kinda funny but that part of the work alone gets mentally exhausting. And the interesting thing is, Mitch used to have a regular job. Well paid. Stable. He was thinking about different things day to day. And he chose to leave all that behind for this – unstable, unpredictable, different problems. This thought track really hit between us last year. It was after we shot Unfamily, our biggest film to date, but before we premiered it. We were in this limbo state where we weren’t taking on any more creative projects but we needed money. Read more>>

Peiyao Yu

It is funny – I actually answered this same question last July, right after graduation. Back then, I said I had no regrets and knew I belonged on stage. But sometimes I wondered if I was just trying to convince myself. You see, I was about to move to a new city and was completely overwhelmed with uncertainty about my future. As a musician, I felt caught between two worlds – people saw the glamorous side of being an artist, but I wasn’t even sure if I could support myself. Last August, after moving to the new city, reality hit hard. I found myself surrounded by well-meaning people who all had the same advice: switch careers, particularly to tech. Even former musicians were telling me to make the change. With so many voices in my ear, I started questioning my path. Read more>>

Jeremy Max

Being a creative is a very complicated lifestyle. I’m happy if I get the chance to create on any given day. I do sometimes wonder what it would be like to have a regular job, but that fantasy slips away faster than I can blink. I am who I am, and even if I had a regular day job, I’d still have to find my “in” creatively, so to speak. But that can’t be part of long-term thinking. Of course, you need to support yourself, and maybe that means doing work you aren’t entirely passionate about in the interim. But long term, I believe, you need to be developing the building blocks to ensure you can have a successful career doing what you love. There’s a very vague criteria for what that looks like, and it often feels completely random to find success in this industry. But all you can focus on is the ground beneath your feet: keep creating great work, and it will eventually pay off. Read more>>

Marques Womack

I’d be lying if I said the journey to becoming a filmmaker is smooth. There are so many factors to consider, and many of them are out of your control. We can’t determine if there’s work or how big the budget for a project is, especially in the early stages. This is speaking from both an independent and union film worker perspective. With that being said, I don’t regret going down this path. My happiness stems from my creativity. When I’m creating films or shows, I know I’m truly walking in my life’s purpose. Before I started working in the film industry full-time, I was a long-time manager at Papa John’s and a Honda warehouse associate. While those jobs provided me stability, there were no outlets for me to implement my creative nature. It felt like I was inside a box, solely working just to pay bills and nothing else. The work also became so tiring that it became hard for me to create or work on creative projects. Read more>>

Hae Ji Cho

Since I was four years old, I knew I was going to be an artist. That’s a choice I’ve made over and over again throughout my life. I think it’s important to remember that I’m not a hostage to this life — being married to my passion and getting to use my creativity as much as I do now is an immense privilege. However, I can definitely see why it takes some work for others to understand just what being an artist or a creative entails and how difficult it can be. A lot of people dip their toes into an evening of artistic activities or remember their time as kids finger-painting and think that being an artist is a whimsical, relaxing pursuit as if every day were the equivalent of exercising a casual hobby. Read more>>

Sean Thompson

Yes. I’m very happy as an artist. The thing is that I do have a regular job. Professionally, I work as an emergency medical technician. However, also, being a professional artist has given me a fantastic outlet for expression and creative pursuits. This has in turn allowed me to cope with the lifetime of physical and emotional traumas that come along with my EMS job. I definitely feel that my experiences have motivated me to seek deeper avenues in creativity. Photography and Graphic Design have long been my passion as an artist. Read more>>

Benjamin Mayer

I am incredibly happy in this creative field. I am in quite the unique position here in Iowa because, due to the smaller market, there is only a little work to do in the acting space that is paid. Due to that most people (including myself) here in Iowa do have regular jobs outside of the creative space. That doesn’t mean that there isn’t always something going on in the Iowa film world, because that is not true at all. There are always short films, fan films, web series, and various other creative film projects going on. Read more>>

Joshua Perry

With many moments in my life since understanding my purpose in life, there’s nothing that makes me happier than being someone who is a creative artist. The biggest moment that made me realize I was made for the creative space and lifestyle was in 2023. I had just got officially accepted into my agency and took off with acting gigs back to back. I started with a few acting companies and just really moved into the acting field in the real world. I even had a few paying gigs that were amazing experiences and also stepping stones in the way as well for how I need to move. And then in June of the same year, I was in the process of working on an outside Shakespeare play and I collapsed for not taking things easy and pushing myself too hard and not taking any breaks. Read more>>

Klara Lima

I believe that if God gave you the gift of any type of creative talent, you have to do something with it and give God back and use your talents to inspire others. Talent is like money- if you use it for the wrong reasons it wont bring you anything positive, but if you use your talents to give back or inspire.. thats how you win in life. When it comes to having a job… every job in this world is important but people should really do what comes natural to them because there is the answer of their purpose. Everyone who is contributing to society deserves respect no matter what they do. Read more>>

Dai Made

I’m definitely happy as an artist and creative. I’m always thinking about what it would be like to be an artist full time. That’s the life I aspire to live, getting paid for being myself and living out my dreams. I feel like being a full artist would be a different type of hard work but at least it would be mine. Creating is liberation and it’s therapeutic. To be able to bring to fruition something you saw in your mind is beautiful within itself, so to solely do that for a living sounds like heaven. That’s what I desire & I will achieve it, I’m already on the journey. Read more>>

Liora Redman

From time to time, I do have thoughts about getting a regular job—one that might offer the illusion of stability. I say illusion because I’ve experienced firsthand how fleeting that stability can be. During COVID, I lost my side job, and I’ve watched friends face layoffs or live with constant fear of losing their positions. Those moments remind me that struggle exists no matter what path we choose; it just manifests in different ways. But then there are the moments that make my choice crystal clear. I remember one in particular: I was on my way to my studio after a winter break. It was early morning, and I was excited to dive back into my work. I stepped into an elevator with a stranger and greeted him with an enthusiastic “Good morning!” He mumbled a response, clearly unhappy, and started complaining about how it was only Tuesday, yet he already felt exhausted and hated his job. Read more>>

Atif Afzal

I have seen both sides of the world – being an artist and also having a regular job. I studied engineering and got a plush job at KPMG. Although, my career was off to a brilliant start, and I was doing really well, I still decided to quit it to follow my dream. Despite all the highs and lows, I am happy to be an artist and have no regrets at all. I see people in my family who are doing regular jobs and fail to understand why they don’t follow their hearts. I see them being so devoted towards growing another company and just being happy with the annual appraisals and bonus. Instead, I have always believed in building my own brand. If you watch Marvel Studio series like Loki and Ms. Marvel, you will not only see my name as an artist, but also my publishing house which is competing with giants like Warner Music and Universal Music. There were so many instances where major production music companies wanted to acquire my music. But, I decided to build my own brand and take this longer route. Being an independent artist is one of the best feeling. Read more>>

Ruoxi Hua

I studied biology in college because my family would like me to work in research facilities or pharmaceutical companies after school. However, I later realized that my true passion lies within art and so I insisted becoming an artist instead. There are certainly many challenges that comes with being an artist: overcoming obstacles in studio practice, living with higher uncertainty and less stable income during early career, having the perseverance to keep on working. Additionally, I think one of the biggest misconception of an artistic career is that it is constantly filled with novelty and excitement of creation compared to the tedious monotony of an “office job.” In fact, the excitement and freshness of new works are so fleeting that they are quickly replaced by the routine labor of executing the work, which can be very frustrating sometimes. A few years ago, when these upsetting situations arose, I would ask myself wether if I would be better off if I chose to stick to studying biology, but now I realize that these frustrating moments are part of being an artist. Read more>>

Melissa Wang

I’m going through my 1/3.5 life crisis, as opposed to my mid-life crisis which will meet me later. When I picture myself working anywhere besides teaching, performing, and composing music, I pull my brain to its interrogation room and ask my persistent 1/3.5 life crisis questions. In another field, will I make more money? Most definitely. In another field, will I get to leave my work the minute I leave the building? Probably. In another field, will I be satisfied? Pursuing a music career is not easy, and every mentor and teacher has warned us from the get-go. But I am constantly reminded that a life with music at my forefront will bring joy to me and those around me. Read more>>

Anuraj Bhagat

I’m definitely happy as an artist and creative. The key to learning how to be happy was being able to detach myself from the work I do. Just because I didn’t create the best-sounding piece of music on a particular day should not impact how I feel about myself. I am so much more than my ability to make music. I used to get upset when I would not get work and question my self-worth, after which I would realize that it probably had more to do with how I was going about finding work than my abilities. Everyone can ride a wave; being able to survive a trough is what makes or breaks you. It’s an immense privilege to be an artist since you can use your craft to navigate and deal with all the pain and trauma that life will throw at you. It’s by far the healthiest outlet to channel your energy into. I used to work in marketing, and ever since quitting my job, I haven’t looked back once because I know that being a creator is an immense privilege. Read more>>