Experimental physicists journey is similar to startup founder

They have to figure out which "idea" they want to commit for a very long time. They have to convince a rich person/org to fund their expensive experiment. Work hard to get things right. Have patience until you get it right.

Success will give you recognition and money and in some cases probably Nobel (being a unicorn). Failure will get you lot of learnings and probably some recognition too ( for proving something wrong). Unfortunately, there is one more state, being in limbo and not going anywhere.

As long as you are having fun in what you do, it is worth it.

Note: I am not an experimental physicist.