This is quite an interesting thread...I have tried to give it up as well, thinking it would be preferable not to perform at all than to split my time and attention between the day job and the music. After about 10 attempts I've quit trying and simply given in to he fact that performing is part of what makes me a whole person. I think it's what makes me a moral person.

Also, reflecting on some of recent comments, perhaps "regret" is not the best term for my situation. It's more of a "what if..." I had taken the plunge. Could I have been lucky enough to have been the one-in-a-thousand who made it big? Probably better to speculate than to know that truth!

Paul