I heard a very famous rock musician who stood on the stage in a stadium, in front of 40,000 people. He mentioned his family, who were in the audience that day. He told that after several years of his solid mega-success as a musician, his parents were still trying to get him to go back and finish school! It is the "safe" thing to do. If things don't work out as an artist, if the whole world grows tired of you, then you can always find work as a accountant or a lawyer. You must realize that the bulk of the population does not understand why anyone would ever want to do something that is not safe. They may or may not ever understand that if you feel truly alive only when doing art, then giving it up would feel like living death to you. Usually (though not in all cases) your family wants the best for you. But it may not be that they have the understanding to correctly decide what that is. You can pretty much guarantee they won't, given that the only person who has all data about your life is you. You are the the only valid decision maker. Make no mistake, the life of an artist is not really very safe or comfortable. You have to really want it. Of course, there is always the compromise where you work with something else while trying to build a career. Few people can avoid this transitional period. Some people don't like it very much. There are two separate, very different problems. Money and acceptance. Many people think that a big home, a car, a family, and all that is the only way of having a decent life. So they need quite some money every month to support this. But maybe they should consider whether all these things are really necessary. Living on less, perhaps they can make do with a half-time job, and go full time sooner putting all their energy into their art. I would never suggest that not working full time as an artist is necessarily a second-rate life. I would only suggest that if it feels like it to you, then perhaps it is. Acceptance a chapter of its own, but the essense is this: Do your damndest to make yourself understood. But don't be a slave to acceptance, don't sacrifice the essentials. It all boils down to a decision. Or rather two: what do you want? And: what is that worth to you? Only you can tell.
The artist and a "safe" life