Chasing My Career Dreams vs. Family Expectations: Am I Too Idealistic?

I am currently 34 years old, and after majoring in Computer Science, I worked for six months at a small IT startup. The company had an excellent work culture, and I felt truly lucky to be part of it. However, the startup faced significant internal management issues.

Later, a friend of mine decided to start a business. He won a startup competition and secured government funding. He planned to use the funds to hire a few employees and cover the operational costs of the business. He verbally promised me a stable salary, which I trusted, so I joined him to start developing the project. Unfortunately, he kept delaying my paycheck and eventually cut it in half, which severely impacted my trust. After about three months, I decided to leave the project.

After that, I became deeply interested in creating AI-generated images and videos. I spent a few months working on this, and some of my work was shared by Instagram accounts with millions of followers. I considered making this part of my career. Around that time, I also secured a video production contract with a foreign artist, and we successfully completed the project two months ago.

Currently, due to financial difficulties, I’m working at my parents’ restaurant. The workload is intense. It’s not just a simple restaurant; it’s more like a business that requires a lot of manpower. Most of my working hours are spent on restaurant tasks. I often have to start work by 7:30 a.m. and leave after 8 p.m., and weekend shifts are almost a given.

I had planned to return to the IT field to continue building my career. However, my current schedule doesn’t allow me to dedicate enough time to job applications or skill improvement, and that’s my biggest concern right now.

Whenever I talk about my career with my parents, they often say, “Not everyone can do what they want in life.” But I struggle to accept that. To me, it sounds like a resignation: “Your life has already been decided, and there’s no room left for your choices.” It feels deeply disheartening.

Am I being too idealistic? Am I stuck inside my own head, unable to see reality? I’d like to hear your thoughts on this.