On following dreams

I haven't discussed this question with many people, but it has bounced around in my head for a few years now, and I suppose this is the way it is going to come out:
Have I grown up watching TV and reading books and hearing people talking about following their dreams, and doing anything they set their minds to and having the whole world as an oyster all my life to discover that the reality is much different? I know that this is certainly something a lot of people have discovered about love and relationships (marriage in particular). Life is not how we want it to be, and writers and movie makers are no exception.

I have wanted to write songs and sing them and compose music for a long time. I can remember this urge going back almost fifteen years. At different times I was more prolific than others, but the desire has always been there. I think I started to consider becoming a recording musician the same time I started applying for college, and I had a choice to make then. Do I follow my "dream" and try to make it on my artistic talent for singer/songwritering? Or go to college to study music education; a course with job security as it's highest selling point (in reality).

:Aside:
I found out who else had chosen the job security route just as soon as I walked into Music Theory 1 my freshman year. I made some good friends in my course of study and met some outstanding musicians (once in a while), but for the most part my Music Theory 1 pals were verbose and vacuous. I didn't want to be in Music Theory 1 either -- it was a hit on my pride. I had taken several years of piano lessons, a year of trombone lessons, and I had almost always been top of the trombone section in band. Still, I did the work in the class. It was very simple and all review except the last few weeks which were on seventh chords (I knew nothing about them and failed the test-out as a consequence).

So I was in for the logical, or more reasonable career path, and I was sticking to it. Again the thought came creeping back; what about being a full-time musician? What about putting a band together? As college went on, the workload and responsibilities increased, and I can say that I did try several times to record, collaborate, and form a band with only one of those endeavors really succeeding. I was in a band once for the sole purpose of performing one charity concert and then we had all agreed to dissolve after that. We did get a recording, though, and that was cool. The bassist, not too much later on, got married and moved to Ireland, and the drummer was a full-time employee at the College (not to mention somewhere between 30-40 with a wife and a few kids). I think it was after that when I first decided that I was going to try busking in the bar district (the main hangout for my cohort, and most likely place to find loose change in a small town). The first night I did it, I made $50 bucks and I was a nervous wreck. Every time after that was not nearly as lucrative, but I did hangout with the guitarist from the only band I'd ever been in, and I did see a guy get completely decked (maybe he was paved -- I don't know) right in the middle of the street.

That's the closest I've ever been to doing what I really love to do -- that and playing guitar, leading the worship band for the tiny church I went to in college. I still wonder, is it bold and true to yourself to go after your dreams and deepest desires (like Howard Rorke), or is it really just foolish and naive because that is not how the world works, it's just a motivational story we all (or will in my case) feed our children in the hope that they will reach greatness as we once wished for ourselves.