This has been an interesting read as it's something I have struggled with over the years and never really come to terms with.
I started in aviation aged 15. Most of the people I attended uni with struggled to pay for their flying lessons and after obtaining their CPL ended up working at coles/bunnings or in other industries.
I ended up having a car accident on my way home from the airport one day and lost my medical for a while (aged 21), this pushed me into IT which was always going to be my second career choice if anything did ever go wrong.
I have never had an issue obtaining work or earning up and over 160k a year in this industry. As was mentioned previously you just need to specialise in one area, i.e. storage. If you're willing to put in the work/effort you can earn substantially more.
I now work for the government on an ok wage 100k+ with long service due every seven years, four weeks holidays a year, 3-5% pay rise each year and a fair few other perks, not to mention I only have to work 7.5 hours a day mon-fri. It makes up the for the 60k+ less a year.
I attempted getting back into aviation over the last two years but couldn't fully commit to it. The biggest hurdle for me was the lack of financial stability, and the limited job prospects. Starting from scratch again isn't an easy task especially when it means earning next to nothing for a very long time.
Of course I still go out flying sometimes but I do regret not being able to fly big jets, it's something I think I will always regret!