Actual Facts
1. I am from a part of Australia that is a scorching hot, dry brown, never changing, ugly environment. (Other parts of Australia are beautiful though.)
2. I moved as far away from there as possible, literally to the other side of the world to Canada, and chose to live in a place that has snow 6-8 months of the year that everyone else wants to get away from. The people here think I'm crazy.
3. While in Australia, I quit a high paying programming job to instead pursue photography via a Diploma of Photo Imaging. In no way did this prepare me for having a career as a photographer. What it did give me was a basic working knowledge about photography as a whole, and a reasonable foundation for me to go off and learn how to actually do photography on my own.
4. Actually doing photography on my own taught me I actually don't want to be a photographer. Instead, I'm much happier using my (technical) Photoshop skills working as a photo editor in the fashion industry where nobody bothers me to be creative.
5. What I did very much enjoy about being a photographer was the ability to make people feel confident about themselves and proud of their own accomplishments. But when push comes to shove, I can't deny I am 100% introverted and I'd honestly rather be a hermit than someone famous.