I'm more headed towards "having all your eggs in one basket" as the root cause, rather than the specific pilot thing, but we had to go the 'pilot' route to get to the root.
Since all your eggs were in one basket, and you lost the eggs and the basket... kwis?
Every story you tell, every post you make, has that 'feeling' -- to me -- that colors you, your attitude, your life. I'm not saying I am right... it's just what I'm picking up on... seems like when we get close to 'it (the root)' you back out, back away... say, hey, it's okay, my life isn't that bad... I'm dealing... I'm happy, really.