I enjoyed every minute of the exams and training
Then what is your problem? You have a well paid job, you did lots of flying and training which you enjoyed, and in the long run it might get you a new career or at least a part time job.
This is how I saw it. Having not thought beyond my PPL(H), when I got it I realised I had a straight choice. I could either do lots of helicopter flying because I loved it, and end up with a load of hours and nothing to show for it; or I could do lots of helicopter flying, take some exams, do a flying course which would teach me more and which I'd probably enjoy, and maybe get paid to fly in the long term. I did the latter, saved some more money, and decided to get the hours needed for the FI course by going off flying abroad - two flying holidays in the US and Russia. I had a whale of a time, and apart from the CPL ground exams and the FI course, I enjoyed every minute of it all. I'm not saying it was easy; actually I found it very tough. But I like challenges; who needs easy?
It's interesting, but I was often accused by others of not taking the whole thing seriously. Unlike many, I wasn't doing it as fast as possible; I flew when I wanted to, took breaks when I didn't. I treated it all as a hobby - since I enjoy learning new stuff about flying, why not? I said openly that I didn't care that much if I didn't get a job at the end of it. And so I made myself very unpopular in some circles...or was it that people were jealous at my happy-go-lucky attitude? Like the CFI, at a school I instructed at till recently, who openly accused me of taking the bread out of his mouth since I had another job to fall back on. Like, he didn't have a choice!
Not being the world's most confident person (a female disease I think
) I occasionally wondered if I'd got it all wrong. But now I'm damned sure I had it right! Though maybe, just maybe, I should learn to keep my mouth shut if I don't want to annoy people.
Basically, to all you wannabes out there, if you want to fly helicopters, fly helicopters. If you want to do the CPL, do it. But don't do it unless you're willing to do it for its own sake, and enjoy the path as much as the possible eventual goal.
And don't, absolutely don't, go into debt to do it!