overcome your disgust with all things economic

I will acknowledge there's a huge component of pride in this. I don't want to give my family an opportunity to tell me they were right in their choices all along. When I joined the publishing company after three years in various call centers, my brother described it as "finally seing sense."

You try to live up to the expectations of "friends who know important people in journalism and web media", you feel bad for not having the degree you'd need, you feel bad about not living up to the "professional" expectations of your family. At the same time you give up opportunities to make a (probably decent) living with your first degree (and with it probably a chance to write more).

Be more proactive. You are responsible for your life now, and you are really responsible for your own feelings.

Do you think your parents and siblings would think they won if you changed field of work? Are you reading their minds and predicting their future minds? And would it change anything in your life if they won? Would you feel you lost and you'd be defeated if you did it? Really? Is there a rational reasoning behind this, implying you live in the present?

Try this "simplish" technique http://sourcesofinsight.com/how-to-use-the-triple-column-technique/