The safe choice feels smart at 18 and heavy at 30 if it was never really what you wanted.

Caution early on gets rewarded immediately, by relieved parents and by a plan everybody understands. The cost arrives much later and quietly, as a life that functions and does not fit. None of that is an argument against being sensible, since money and stability are real and plenty of people have no room to gamble. It is an argument for knowing which pressure you are responding to.

Ask whether you are choosing this because you want it or because it is easier to explain. If the second, find a small way to keep the other thing alive alongside it. Closing the door completely is the part worth avoiding.