Answering the Question - Will I Return to the Studios?

I empathize with you, something similar happened to me. I always wanted to work in a big studio, since I was 16yo. I got in the animation industry at 23 only, in a small studio, and kept trying to evolve my skills for another 8 years until I finally got a job at Sony. That didn't fulfill my expectations at all, it is a fun and spoiled job for sure, but it's certainly not as one dream of. It is super cool to say to friends and family that I worked on movie X and Y, but the actual time working on them it's not exactly glamorous at all, as you know. Working 10, 12 or even longer hours for weeks and months are brutal. Working months in a row in order to have less than a minute of animation in the movie is also not very satisfying. I felt that especially after I had kids and missed a lot of them growing up, as I was sitting at my desk delivering shots. Totally not worth it, nothing will bring that time back. When I decided to get out of it for a bit and work on my own stuff (animBot) it was super scary at first, I was giving up my "dream job" in order to pursue something that I didn't know I would be able to live by, and I knew it. But there is nothing that compares with the feeling of accomplishment of something you create, to be your own boss. That's when you truly can unleash your creativity and do only things that you love to do. I once heard that success is when you turn your hobby to your day to day job. But to me that's halfway there, success is when you are finally able to turn that job back into your hobby, when you are in a position that you have time to do what you love without the need of getting money out of it and specially without sacrificing your family. Personally I want to work again in a big studio some day, but only when my kids grow up and call me "old man", and only for limited time chunks, not in the endless killing loop as I was in once. You are doing an amazing work, dude, I totally support you. I hope you find your success and happiness!