I'm confused and frustrated

[BelladonnaTheNightWitch]

My passion is art. The fine arts. I love painting, drawing, making small sculptures or pottery, and anything to do with creativity and finding your voice in this wretched world.

I'm majoring in healthcare currently and plan to apply to my school's nursing program for an ASN/ADN afterwards but I desperately want to make the best and right choice. I want to follow my dreams and receive a stable and secure paycheck. It's really frustrating and demotivating to go through this. Classes start on the 25th and I don't know what to do. I've lived a life of not being financially stable and it's sad that my true passion does not provide that and if it does, it'll take years of networking and promoting to be able to make a living as a full time artist. 

 

I also have to consider the fact that I'm very dependent. I don't drive, have 0 experience in anything besides art as 90% of my skill set pertains to art, I live at home, and I'm struggling looking for a simple lame ass job in retail/food service. I know that I would have to work in such a position for a while to support my artistic endeavors in school. My current path consist of getting a healthcare certification within a year so that I can work a higher paying professional job as I earn my associates. I know that art makes me happy but nursing/health will provide the money and security for an at home studio and more art supplies. I don't have much skill. I can upload a few of my works throughout the years...but I'm also terrified of some bullshit like the pandemic happening again and ruining my opportunities to network and make a decent check from my art but being a healthcare provider would be extremely demanding in pandemics and I'd probably literally kill myself.

My depression and anxiety can lead to a loss of money because of a lack of motivation and life purpose. It doesn't help that the lack of support for the fine arts is prevalent. They always bring up the economy and financial stability when I bring up art school. Being broke is a bitch but I guess being unhappy and miserable is worth a stable check...right?

Any artists here that can give some pointers? How are you able to make a sustainable, secure living from your art? 

Edited July 31 by BelladonnaTheNightWitch