Well, what do you want that you think conflicts with what you need to survive? Does it really conflict? Are the odds of success - as you define it - slim enough that they terrify you? EDIT: Your website indicates that you're either the person going for the MFA in creative writing or the BA in English. That kind of explains it, I guess, insofar as what you want maybe not paying the bills so well. And I don't mean this as some kind of snarky insult, even though it might sound that way given the tendency of people to think English majors and MFAs are going to end up making lattes for everyone else. It really does seem like liberal arts folks struggle more than us STEM folks these days. To which I can only say, given the fact that I'm in a whole 'nother subject, my best advice is to sit down with your professors and possibly also the career center and have a chat about what you want, where you're going, and how you can survive doing it. Because they're the ones most likely to know.