Quitting Safeway to try and go pro

Hey all!

I'm relatively new to Two Plus Two, and have been playing poker for about a year and a half. Playing live, I have definitely lost money, somewhere in the vicinity of 2-3k. These nights playing live were often when I was drunk and really wanted to throw money away and just lose (these were dark, very sad days for myself). It didn't help that I was a genuine beginner a year and a half ago, and it has only been in the last few months where I feel like I am actually taking strides to being a better poker player.

In terms of online, I am actually a small winner!!! I've only put $100 USD online (one deposit) in August 2016, and my bankroll at the moment is about $320 USD. I was breakeven for basically the first year, and most of my profit has come in the last two months, making some deeper runs in small stakes MTTs and a little cash game success as well. I'm proud of how I've managed my bankroll online and refrained from putting my roll in mortal danger. To be a beginner player and not bust for over 14 months is exciting for me.

As the title says, I am currently working at Safeway making minimum wage. My last day of work is a week and a half from now. I am currently living in Vancouver (I'm a recent graduate), but will be moving back home to Saskatchewan in the next month or so, where life will be much cheaper.

I have decided that I want to give professional poker a shot. For the last year and a half, poker has been the one constant passion in my life. In some truly dark days (days made darker by poker sometimes), the dream of being a professional was something for me to strive towards.

I know for a fact that I have not given poker my 110% attention. First, I was a full time university student. After, I became a full time Safeway employee with **** hours. Across both of that, a general depression and lack of desire for anything really hampered my ability to focus whatsoever.

Right now, I feel mentally ready for this challenge. I have read some poker books over the last few weeks, which are already showing results. I am working on learning more concepts of the game. I am a smart guy (at least, I was formerly a smart kid), and I know that when I apply myself, I can accomplish great things.

Poker is something I have to try, and this is the perfect time in my life to take that shot. I have about 13k saved up. Using that to cover basic expenses when I move back home, i figure that I will easily have 6+ months where I can focus solely on poker. I want to grind up my $320 USD bankroll into something I can sustain myself on as a poker pro. Beyond that, maybe I can move up the stakes and become one of the better poker players in the world. I need to give poker a shot, because it is the one thing in life right now that I am honestly excited about. If I don't give my best effort, I know I will regret it for the rest of my life, always asking myself "what if."

If I fail, that's okay. If I can't improve and build my bankroll, and my savings dwindle until I need to get another job, that's okay. I have promising prospects elsewhere, particularly in screenwriting. At worst, I will leave this challenge broke with a ton of great research and inspiration to mine stories from. At best, poker as a living will become a reality. If things go really well, maybe I can have the best of both worlds. Who knows?

Like I said, I'm new to Two Plus Two. I guess I can keep posting on this thread as I continue my journey. There should be some juicy stuff, including a poker short film I'm pitching in a few weeks and some trepidation about what my parents will think when I tell them my plans. Most of all, this is about trying to do something I will love doing for the rest of my life. I'll try and chronicle the ups and downs, and hopefully I can make this journey work 😀

Feel free! Any tips or feedback you have on this crazy plan, bankroll management, where i should start studying to improve the quickest, etc. I'm all ears 😀