Hi, my name is Shawn, and I am currently employed as a manager working in customer service for a major health organization. The pay is decent for a guy my age (26), and it's paying the bills for my family... so why am I so miserable? 
I'm sure many people visiting this site can relate to this situation. In college, I opted for what I thought was a 'safe' major- I have a BA in Marketing and 4 Associates in Business, Marketing, Management, and Entrepreneurship. When I neared the end of my Marketing degree, I realized "Hey, this actually isn't what I thought it would be!". Like other people may believe, I thought the focus of Marketing would be more creative, but I found that advertising is simply a component of Marketing, a major which encompasses much more. Long story short (or at least shorter) I have yet to do any actual marketing due to the fact that most of these jobs require 5+ years in that field, and so here I am in a call center questioning how I ended up on this path. Truth is, I've been a musician for 17 years, and that's my real passion. I've done the restaurant gigs, played in some local bands, weddings, funerals, played at church, and before what I'm doing now I taught private lessons for 3 1/2 years. Unfortunately, working 3+ music jobs barely added up to my bills and my wife and I wanted to have a baby (he's 5 months now) so hence came the call center job. I'm at my crossroads now- I really want to pursue my music further, but I want to take a realistic approach. I don't want to quit my day job quite yet without the proper preparation, but I'm in that limbo state, where I feel stuck to my current job due to the income and health benefits, but it's bringing me down each day I work. I'd just like to hear some other stories from people in a similar situation, and see what you have done or learned from the experience. Ultimately I would love to open my own non-profit music facility in the community, because I love to teach, I have a passion for this field, and I think it will bring alot of worth to the community and children who want to develop their own skills. I hope that in time I will feel confident enough to jump back in to the music community, and I'm using this post as a way to reach out to others in my situation- it's nice to know that there are people in the same boat looking for that creative outlet! Thanks, Shawn 