[blunte]

Music, both listening and performing, has been one of the few things in life that really fills me with joy and gives me the strongest (positive) emotions.

If I had gotten a music degree, I could have probably been a decent composer and a better instrumentalist; so I might have been able to make a living. Or at least I probably wouldn't have gotten enough early higher paying jobs that I trapped myself in that money cycle.

[granshaw]

I don’t know what your partner/family situation is - I feel like I could easily wind down my spending and comfort level, but I don’t want to put my partner through that. I think in most cases this is the constraining factor

[blunte]

That is and has been one of my best excuses (and a pretty valid one, especially when children are involved).

Now this is rather extreme in comparison, but some young families with children live a bit of the slow-nomad life, on a minimal budget. It's difficult to know if that would be overall good or negative for them and the kids, but I kind of suspect it would make for better young humans. I imagine it would mean a lot less prejudice and intolerane of others if you grew up being exposed to many different cultures.