To the OP, life is a gamble. We make our most reasoned choices, we dump everything into attaining our goals, we sacrifice and do the right thing for decades at a time. And yet the final outcome is never fully under our control. We can debate whether the pilot life is worthwhile and we do here, but it remains the odd truth that nobody really knows why things work the way they do. One man loses badly while another inherits the Moon. Why does the universe spin? Who knows, it just does. Fate is the hunter, as Mr. Gann said.

My advice to aviation hopefuls just starting out is go slowly and think through what you want do next as you progress in aviation. Avoid debt. It will take many years to reach a conclusion. For me, aviation serves a meaningful purpose and I have continued with it for a long time, 14 years now, and I spent some of my best years on it. A light may come on at some point telling me to continue or to quit, I do not know. But I won't see the light unless I try hard to see it.