Follow your dream, but follow these rules...
1- Don't pay for any but your initial flight training.
2- If you have to marry young, make sure he/she is flexible, adventurous, and employable, because there will be unexpected moves and financial hardships. Keep the number of kids reasonable (my apologies to any of my Mormon friends). Marry wealth if possible.
3- Don't buy nice cars or homes until you have at least 30% of the seniority list behind you at an historically stable company (good luck finding one of those).
4- Don't waste money on lattes, go with drip. If you drink, make the captain pay for it, as they should.
5- Get to the left seat of any turbine aircraft as soon as possible and stay there until you have at least, hopefully more than, 1000 PIC. Take the upgrade and accompanying reserve ass pain as soon as you can to said aircraft.
6- Do the "6-months of pay" savings plan.
7- Have a back-up, portable career, or wealthy relatives. Real estate, financial planning, teaching, nursing, etc. No matter how well you prepare or who you get on with, you may need it.
8- Study your work rules contract carefully, because your crew scheduling will tend to focus only on the parts they can use against you.
9- Study hard for your technical interviews, but remember most interviews these days are driven towards evaluating personality and judgement. Work on your "what would you do" and "tell me about a time" stories with friends and focus on stories that demonstrate your professionalism and judgement. Don't try to be funny if you're not.
10- It can be a fun job, but the previous posters are correct that timing, connections, and luck are just as important as preparation. After working in aviation for the last 25 years, civilian and military, I've gotten my dream job at a legacy carrier. I'm now on the bottom of a list of over 12K pilots, reasonably looking at a forced move, probable furlough, and many, many years sitting reserve. Yet, I wouldn't change a single decision I've made. It was my dream too, regardless of how it's turning out.

Good luck!