As for the having fun and being challenged bit, I agree with Jamesgrainge - I have no first hand experience as I am not a pilot yet - but one small note I might add on/ask about is something that I have observed with my pilot mates. There seems to be a lot of room for fulfilling those personal growth needs outside of the job isn't there?. Obviously the job has contact hour limits for safety but almost every pilot I know has a fair bit of time off and some crazy hobby that they are extremely skilled and invested in, or they are amazing parents to their kids (a fulfilling challenge I know about first hand). When I spent almost all of last year in a pretty awful desert with work without a single day off I would get emails from my pilot mates who (although they work very hard for not great airlines) sometimes forget that 8-10 days off a month is actually pretty amazing. I know that I am in no way qualified to talk and I know that these days off are necessary for work life balance and safety but sometimes I think pilots forget that most people in our developed countries are working 6 10 hour days a week for 10 days of annual leave a year and the same if not worse pay check!!
again not having a go at all! (especially as its the job I want more than anything), just observation based on conversation and research like reading that Wiz Link above. Ill just have to see how it goes in the long run!