Your backup plan can be anything. Mine was my music education degree.

When I started college, I was a music education major. Really, I wanted to be a music performance major. As per my school's policies, I couldn't start out with both majors. My sophomore year, I finally added music performance and became a double major.

I worked my tail off. And for what? Honestly, I don't like kids that much. When I took a step back and looked at what I was doing, I realized that I was only majoring in music education because I wanted a steadier job and I wanted to prove people wrong.

If you can do just music performance, more power to you. If you can do just music education, more power to you. If you can do both, more power to you. If you're doing what makes you happy, that's amazing. Keep doing that.

But if you're doing something just as a safety net, take a step back and re-prioritize. I realized that I wasn't only majoring in music education in order to have a steadier job. I realized that I was using that major as an excuse to fail at my other degree.

I could say "Well, of course I can't practice that much. I have two degrees. That's crazy!" I could say "Well, of course I can't ace that exam. I have two degrees. That's crazy!"

I could blame my other degree whenever I failed at something. So I dropped my music education degree.

And, honestly, it was the best decision that I could have made.

I could throw myself entirely into my performance. I could practice without the guilt of a heavy course load. I could take responsibility for my own failures.

I stepped back, not because I wasn't physically capable of getting both degrees, but by my own choice. And that feels great.