I've come into a good-paying job. The schedule sucks. Between the commute and the workdays, I'm on the hook over 60 (nearly 70) hours a week.

I have a chance to replace some of my current job with work in my preferred and admittedly more suitable fields: music education/entertainment and puppetry, along with the chance to work on the admin side of another company that represents a favorite hobby.

Should I keep the really-good-paying job with the crappy schedule and long hours, or should I replace some (and eventually all) those hours with a closer commute and work I love? I may not make as much... and no ONE of these other jobs will pay what the current job does alone... YET. In time, one or two of these jobs could turn into full-time work that I would LOVE to do every day. Right now, I would need at least two of these other gigs to equal what I make now.

Is your day job just whatever you need to do in order to pay the bills? Would you take slightly less mone th to do things you love to do as long as you were sure you'd be solvent and OK?

I've hung in for a year and a half at 20 hours weekly just so I could sieze the other 30+ hours when they became available. I'm realizing that my family life, emotions and general happiness are all struggling now because of this great money.

My wife is nervous that I would trade these hours for other things. She's worried that the creative-arts gigs might not last. What to do?