[quote=flyer]Please realize these thoughts are just my opinions, and I wouldn’t construe them as advice. I wish you the best![/quote]
I take all advice as opinions and all opinions as opinions. Then form my own opinion.
Anyway, great answers and I appreciate it.
The problem with the “talent” question is (in my opinion) this: In music, painting, acting, and most other arts, talent – even great talent – is rarely enough. You usually need either a lucky break; a forceful, sell yourself, make-it-happen personality/approach; or both (in addition to talent) to make it in those fields. In fact, those things are frequently more important than talent. (All this assumes a huge amount of time and hard work are put into it).
And that makes those fields that much riskier. I suppose if you failed you could say, “well, at least I did what I could to chase my dream, and now I know it wasn’t meant to be.” But I think most people would be more likely to think, “I had talent, I worked hard, I spent lots of time on it, and I couldn’t catch the break I needed. Which is probably not a nice place to be but, like you’ve said, wouldn’t be so bad as long as one had concurrently pursued a “plan b.”