Gruntilda said......”I've thought about a PPL but in my opinion it would just be setting a foot through the door and I'd be even more tempted to try and change careers. It's also a decent chunk of money for something that would just be a hobby.”
If you think a PPL is a decent chunk of money, then maybe you’re not earning as much as you imply.
The only thing I’ll say is an airline career (probably 75% of all jobs) is not flying. And with every improvement in automation and technology, it becomes less so. If you “love” flying think long and hard about committing yourself to sitting in an aluminium tube for the next 40 years. But, yes, it does pay well.
The job is easy, not particularly intellectually challenging. What you are selling is your health. Years of constant fatigue from poor rest and broken sleep will take their toll.
But in the end all of the above means little... as someone said ..you only regret the things you didn’t do. So go for it. And the only real way to find out if you’ve made a mistake is to go for it. Drop me a line in 30 or 40 years time telling me how right or wrong I was back in 2020.