Guess I'm pretty lucky then........
Currently working in Africa and have been for all my aviation career. Where I'm from my complexion and gender preclude me from any worthwhile airline job so I've been operating in the bush. Flown the venerable DC3, mighty Twotter, 748s, F27s, and most light singles and twins in some pretty rough conditions. Been shot at, jailed, bombed, taken hostage and had some pretty close shaves with the wildlife. Fetched my boss and some colleagues in body bags two hours after dropping them off in a remote location. Flown some dodgy types and watched the nose gear through a hole in the floor or had a cup of tea and a stew made on a gas stove in the back by a friendly engineer. Had a great time and met some good people, most of whom I regard as friends.
Left a well paying IT job to fly. Couldn't crap in my boss' ashtray the day I left as the bastard was out to lunch. Battled along for months with no pay from some dodgy operators where I ended up paying for the boss' BMW, ostensibly to keep the company afloat (Yeah, I'm fick). In the end I now have a good/reasonable job flying big noisy smelly beasts with bad attitudes for not much money but enjoying every minute.
In all I reckon it was a good move and my only regret is that I took so much time to get off my backside and start flying. Wish I'd tried to crap in my ex boss' ashtray much earlier.........