Excellent post by speed trim fail above.
I’ve had a very fortunate career and now fly a modern jet around the world way above the weather (most of the time) and get paid pretty well for doing so. Although increasingly not well enough in my view. I’ve been doing this long enough now though that the novelty has well and truly worn off. It becomes a job just like any other. It is unusually demanding in terms of rostering, medical fitness, mental health when constantly jet lagged on the other side of the world & away from your family. The sim checks hang over you. Every time the economy hits a bump the management starts talking about redundancies. It cannot on any level be good for your physical health. I concluded some time ago that if someone gave me a million quid tomorrow I’d be gone in a heartbeat.
Just be realistic about it is all. There are worse things to do for a living but it does become a job with its own set of stresses & strains. If I could have somehow afforded to have kept flying as a hobby while earning decent money I would, in hindsight, have done so.