Having tried from a number of different angles to turn my passions into paychecks, I completely agree with you: taking away pressure is the best way to go. I haven't been writing for publications this time around on Medium (I left for a while but came back when they had a half price membership sale) because I know I won't be happy following the rules and I also know that I don't have enough time / eye power to read as much as I ought to on here if I'm going to be publishing to a pub. So I just do my own thing and I am vastly happier. Whatever works for you, whatever keeps you creating, follow that path!