Well sir, first of all, welcome to APC!

It's interesting that you bring this situation up though. When I wanted to start flying and possibly make a career out of it, my Dad who is a pilot for SWA, warned me about the dangers of aviation, the hardships, and the drawbacks. At the time I had no idea how highly SWA was regarded amongst the aviation community. So yes, he tried to warn me about aviation, but I just fell in love with it. I will do the exact same thing for my son/daughter whenever I may be so privileged to have one some day (i'm only 23). If they truly want to be a pilot, then so be it, but I will warn them about what they are getting themselves into.

Regarding what it would take to leave aviation. It would take an act of God for me personally. I absolutely love my job and can't possibly imagine doing anything else. I enjoy other things, but couldn't see myself doing anything else for the rest of my life. At what point would it become no longer possible? I would say if you had a family you were supporting and making good money (70K+), it would be damn near impossible to leave to take a 50% paycut and still try to support your family.

In response to your question about leaving your regional for an alter-ego... the BIG one I see here is the situation with TSA and GoJet. I think TR Disagree handled that one fairly well already, but the only thing that would force me to move is if I lost my job at my first airline.