Re: Life Choices... Passion vs Practical


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Posted by ...the yellow wood on March 05, 2004 at 11:06:16:

In Reply to: Life Choices... Passion vs Practical posted by ben on March 05, 2004 at 10:17:20:

..replete with the two roads presented itself to me and I chose the job. (non musical military so there's an aspect of commitment to the profession above that one might find as a chemist ). Thirty years later I have a wife, three small kids, a dog, two cats, a lizard adn a basement full of instruments some of which I play pretty well, some with no skill at all, all regularly, none as well as I'd like and none to any audience beyond the dog and the lizard- and the lizard is a bit of a captive audience. My sister accompanied opera singers for years living like a particularly destitute church mouse, moved to Europe to do same in a broader venue, got a gig conducting on the side and now works conducting in NYC. No family (but two cats) and doing OK. Do I regret not pursuing the muse; you betcha. Do I regret the other career- well no. Does my sister regret the lack of the "traditional trappings of society that frequently require a "normal" job to acquire"; sometimers. Does she regret the career in music; well no. But it seems to me that you are truly at the Y in the road; and it really is difficult to run back and forth twixt the two ways as time goes by and they grow increasingly far apart. Perhaps you should try to envision yourself at fifty and ask,"What do I want to be then?" Define the goal and then you can choose the road. Realistic assessments of practicality clearly figure but drifting.... "If you don't know where you're going any path will get you there...."
Not much help but there's my take-
Henry


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