My story (also not spring chicken):

-Had a very demanding IT job up until 2 years ago (12-hour days, stress...) -Asked for a demotion and moved to a more relaxed position -Used the extra time to go back to grad school -40% complete in Fine Art program (drawing/painting). It was an easy choice, visual art was a life-long passion, but math/physics took over early on and then I had to make money as the kids started to arrive...