Perspective
I am about 3/4 way through an OATS course and left a reasonably well paid job at 34 to start down this road. My parents haven't much money so I have borrowed the whole course fees secured on my house equity. I am living off my working wife and a redundancy pay out. In total with pre-existing debts etc I owe around £70 000 and have around £10 000 in savings and around £150 000 in equity. I'm heaps worse off than I was but I'm also heaps happier!!
I have tried to keep things in perspective - £70 000 is a lot of debt but it's akin to a very small mortgage, it's less than many small businessmen invest in a shop or something and it isn't much for a lifetime career. If I fly for 20 years it equates to around £4000 a year which is a price worth paying for happiness.
I'd urge all of you to read a book called 'What Should I do with my life' by Po Bronson - it helped me a lot.
Keep the debts in perspective and think about getting into property - houses in this country have gone up so much in recent years they have allowed some of us to fulfill our ambitions. Even if property prices stagnate for the next couple of years at least the place is yours. If you rent you're just paying someone else's mortgage.
Hope this helps,
Jonathan