Originally Posted by
jedinein
"Getting laid" is not part of the pyramid for all people, nor is having a roof over one's head, “the stars are my roof”.
OK, so sex might not be a priority for some, but you are saying having a roof over your head is not essential? 
It is that certain things for me are not as important as others.
Well, I agree we all have different priorities, but the point is that SOME things are top priority for ALL of us.. those some things being food, water and shelter. You can't argue with basic human physiological needs, which make up the fundamentals of the pyramid.
If it were only about food and shelter, I would have never walked away from a very good paying IT job to become a flight instructor.
But no one said it's ONLY about food and shelter! You say you are familiar, then you should know Maslow says nothing about the importance of only one thing. It's the ORDER in which we need those needs met. Enjoyment of your job is important obviously, the pyramid doesn't refute that at ALL. But all of that job fulfillment stuff comes AFTER food and water. Isn't that common sense? Because without food you would be DEAD! how would you ponder the satisfaction level of your job at that point?
Next, Hindsight states that one can not enjoy nor fulfill one’s basic needs with a regional airline pilot job unless they are in the sole situation of a young twenty-something with no family. The second argument is false as I’m not a twenty-something and I’m able to fulfill both basic and advanced needs with the airline job on first year FO pay.
Well, you said you have multiple streams of income. That means you're NOT fulfilling "both basic and advanced needs" solely on first year FO pay. Age has nothing to do with it, it was only mentioned because 20-somethings usually have no other mouths to feed than their own, and no financial obligations. On a side note, I'm just curious... how are you flying for an airline and also flight instructing? is it just ground school? Because all the regionals I know of prohibit flying commercially on the side. I would love to do some other part 91 flying on the side for fun and additional income but it's not allowed at my company.
Further disproving this argument, half of my new-hire class was on their second or third careers, with families.
I'm willing to bet those older folks with families who are on their second or third careers are able to get by only because they saved up tons from their previous jobs before getting into this biz or their wives have lucrative careers. I know a few myself... there was an older dude in my class who had a pension from his first career and didn't need the money... there was another older dude in the same class who used to own a profitable business and didn't need the money. In any case, it's not the wage from the regional job that's supporting them. i.e., it's other sources, not the regional job, that is fulfilling their basic needs.
Self-fulfillment is a journey, not an end.
uhm, OK.. I agree... I'm not sure how this statement pertains to our argument at hand.
With that said, I do claim that one way to know how much one loves flying, even with all of the warts of dealing with passengers, crew scheduling, delays, weather, cargo, planes that try to kill you, FAA, and NTSB (hopefully you'll never deal with them!), is to lose flying for awhile, especially if that lose is involuntary. Then you'll know.
Well, I don't think any of us dislike flying here or need a reminder on how much they love it. That's just not the point. I personally love FLYING, but it's hard to like the JOB when I'm constantly stressed out about being able to do basic stuff like supporting myself. I work really hard (always picking up open time on my off days) to be able to not worry about paying bills, but because I spend so much time at work, it stressed me out even more. It's like a catch 20/20. I wish I could just enjoy the flying and not have worry about buying groceries on a credit card.