If flying is your passion, then go for it no matter the hurdles. Obstacles aren't there to stop you, they are there to show you how much you want something.

Just... don't shoot me please.

I'll be straight up honest. I had a hard landing incident in a piper back early this year. Which made me second guess myself, and the new instruction I recieved in the C-152. The training I had in my private , now that I look back, was poor as far as landings went. It's like trying to learn the "right" way again.

First, Thx for your honesty. 2nd don't necessarily give up, if you really want this. Way too many folks have become victims of poor instruction. That is a whole nuther subject. One of the reasons you have had issues is that you were likely taught to fly a particular type of airplane, as opposed to learning to fly an airplane. Over the years I have found it fairly easy to learn and adapt to many new types. This is not due to possessing any special skills or being smarter than the average bear; It is due to, after some initial less than desirable instruction, finding an instructor that loved teaching primary students and that had over 10K hours of dual given. The very first thing he told me was "I am not going to teach you how to fly this airplane, I am going to teach you how to fly an airplane. I highly suggest you stop in your tracks and search out such an instructor. It will be well worth the effort. Best of luck, and keep us posted!

Most of us have occasional doubts about our career and life choices. It never ends. So, if you have THESE kinds of doubts at THIS point so early in your career, then just quit now and get it over with. You'll regret it later, but it sounds like you are so focused on a singular destination that you have lost all sense of the journey.

Last year a local newspaper reader had the following exchange with a newspaper advice columnist:
READER: "I want to pursue my dream of becoming a full-time artist, but I am afraid I won't make enough money. What should I do."
COLUMNIST: "Don't do it. You are not a committed artist, since you are only willing to pursue your dream on the condition that doing so is financially lucrative enough. Someday you'll understand the difference."

Picture it this way: You are hiring one pilot and have two candidates. One guy explains that he has a variety of experience and he's done a variety of jobs, having a great time at all of them and making the most out of trying circumstances. Then there's you, who has thought of quitting since before your CPL and has always been uptight about not having "made it" yet. (What does that even mean, anyway?). Guess who you would hire?

Do yourself a favor: Change your outlook or pull the ejection handle now. (Note that as you drift back down to comfortable terra firma, you'll still be looking up at airplanes overhead and wishing you were there.)

Great post Seamus. The reality of the career is you will be poor for quite a while and more than likely will get furloughed at least once or twice.
If you're not willing to live like a pauper, look elsewhere for a career.

They most certainly are not.

I see hundreds of them. If you signed up for aviation job sites, you'd see them too.

I got my first jet job in a corporate sabreliner, and I got it from an ad in trade a plane.

Airlines are one aviation career track. They are by no means THE career track in aviation.

The regionals aren't for everyone! Don't feel discouraged away from aviation just because you don't want to go to the regionals. I don't want to either. It doesn't mean you don't love flying.
There are jobs outside of the regionals. Once hitting 1,200 hours you'll be eligible to fly 135 cargo for a company like Ameriflight. Their starting salary is 34,000. There's also Alpine, Keylime, Martinaire, ect.
As someone else mentioned, once you have 500 hours or so, sign up for a job board. With 500TT I was offered a job making 33k a year as an FO in a BE20. It wasn't through a lucky connection or anything, just sent in an app. Same thing can happen to you.
At around 1000TT my boyfriend got on with a survey company that pays 60k salaried.
Enjoy the ride and stick with it!

Addiction
 

I believe that flying is more of an addiction then passion.

Passion Definition: (from the Latin verb patere meaning to suffer) A term applied to a very strong feeling about a person or thing. Passion is an intense emotion, compelling enthusiasm or desire for anything.

Addiction Definition: A state defined by compulsive engagement in rewarding stimuli, despite adverse consequences.

When one feels uncertain about following a passion that is your instinct of self preservation trying to alert you to what could be a bad situation. Pilots often advance even though they acknowledge to themselves, and others, that it is a difficult and life exploding proposition. That is why I believe a more accurate term is "addiction" in regards to following an aviation impulse.

In any case both terms disregard the application of logic or reason to the decision making process.

Perhaps we should apply the term "passion" to other similar life decisions? Example: "He was passionate about heroin". It seems to make lots of poor decisions seem less self destructive. Perhaps some people could be "passionate about adultery or alcohol"? I don't believe that passion or addiction should be a basis for choosing ones occupation.

"Don't follow your passion. Have your passion follow you." - Mike Rowe

Skyhigh

It's always good to get both sides of a debate. No matter how dramatic and overblown. An intelligent person can figure out where the facts end and the fairy tales begin.

Getting established as a professional pilot is not easy. Which is why it takes a strong passion to get through the hard times.