Q: one of the reasons I chose not to do music as a career was that I was worried it would stress me out by having to make money off of it, and I would stop playing music for the sake of music. but the more I look at and play with ensembles outside of highschool, I get the feeling that a lot of people have gotten into the habit of playing music as a chore, and most ensembles are focused on preparing music for specific gigs, or just being able to play at gigs in general, instead of making music that they like.
A: indeed many professional jobs and gigs might bring us to cringetown. but amongst that, thre are many things to learn, about life in general, and besides that, there's also going to be plenty of situations where you come into contact with amazing players and have a great time. It's like speaking. people who speak for a living still enjoy speaking for their own personal reasons, in their own ways