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.

Javen Barnes

I’m very happy as an artist and working in all sorts of creative spaces. I think about what it would be like to work a regular job all the time. I never consider the thought as an actual possibility, but I get curious about it. Read more>>

Karen Brummund

I had been working as an artist for about ten years when I hit a wall of burnout. I remember crying over having too many opportunities, while a younger artist looked at me like I was crazy. Read more>>

Trisha Virdi

One of the toughest parts of being a creative is that you don’t ever really get to switch off. Your phone is always within reach, and with social media and emails, everyone has access to you all the time which can get overwhelming; especially since most of my friends and people I work with are spread across so many different time zones. Read more>>

Oscar Yuan

Yes, I am definitely happier as an artist and a creative. Being a music creator allows me to express my feelings and emotions in ways I sometimes can’t otherwise, and that expression is incredibly meaningful to me. Read more>>

Tian Liu

This is the question that I kept asking myself throughout the past year after finishing my MFA in Photography and Media at CalArts. Being a freelance artist means one person is a team—you are your own creative director, financial manager, public relations, and sometimes even your own critic. Read more>>

Shana Wride

The easy answer I guess is yes I am happy as an artist or creative. The truth is perhaps a bit more complicated! I have not always been able to focus on my work in the theatre full-time. For huge periods of time I have had to have a full-time “day job “to survive. Read more>>

Jason Heglund

This is something that crosses my mind on a weekly basis and has been doing so for many years now. I’m not sure it’ll ever go away but it has slowed down over the past couple of years. Read more>>

Mariana Arôxa

What’s a “regular” job? I feel like we’re here to expand as humans, to be our most authentic selves. And I’ve realized that we’re not static—we’re ever-changing—and expression is at the core of the most lit versions of our experience on this Earth. Read more>>