Today Canadian-Chinese actor Simu Liu posted ‘Happy April 12th’ on social media.
April 12th of this year is the 10th anniversary of the day that Liu was laid off from his accounting job at the prestigious consulting firm, Deloitte, which ultimately sent him down another path filled with confusion, ‘figuring it out’, soul-searching, ambition, and tenacity that led him to the prosperous acting career that he enjoys today.
He concluded his post with two messages, one to his fans where he writes: “I don’t know who needs to hear this right now, but no amount of money is worth compromising your vision for yourself. The pursuit of a dream — your dream — against all odds… that’s what life is all about.”
And then another to his former employer: “To Paul Gibbon, and the offices of Deloitte Toronto; sincerely, honestly, THANK YOU. You did for me what I never had the courage to do myself; you destroyed a life that I was building for someone else so that I could finally begin to build a life for me.”
Taking your dreams seriously can be hard.
Finding the courage to break down the parts of your life that you’ve built for someone else so that you can build for yourself can be even harder.
Maybe you’ll succeed, maybe you’ll fail — but maybe that’s not the point.
At the end of the day, maybe the point — the win — is that you mustered the courage to give your dreams a shot at all.