i was in the same predicament that you are in right now. unfortunatley i decided to persue a career in Criminlogical Studies. The thing that put me off is the fact that graphics design is such a competitive market, there are also a surge of young people wanting to go into it... I used to design for money (which was quite hard because its not what you like its what your client likes, which I found difficult at times) but now just do it as a hobby. Just thought I would put my 2 cents in there