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Lesson #3: Follow Your Heart

Article Overview: “My parents wanted me to be a lawyer,” Lopez jokingly recalls. “But I don’t think I would have been very happy. I’d be in front of the jury singing.”

Lesson #3: Follow Your Heart

“My parents wanted me to be a lawyer,” Lopez jokingly recalls. “But I don’t think I would have been very happy. I’d be in front of the jury singing.”

Lopez knew from an early age that she wanted to be a performer. Whether it was singing in front of friends in her family’s living room or dancing before thousands on her world tour, Lopez has always felt most comfortable when she was on stage and entertaining others. Moving from a musical career to an acting career was thus an easy transition for Lopez to make. “I was always a singer and a dancer, and I always wanted to be an actress,” she says. “For me, it's all just one thing.”

The success that Lopez has experienced throughout her career signifies the importance of following one’s dreams. Lopez knew what she was good at, she knew what she enjoyed, and she knew what her calling in life was: she was here to entertain. She could have been a lawyer like her parents had wanted; she probably could have been anything. But, she wouldn’t have been able to bring the same amount of passion or energy to those professions. “I had a lot of dreams, a lot of things I wanted to do from the time I was real young, a real little girl and I just went after that,” says Lopez.

Despite having discovered her passion at a young age, this did not ensure smooth sailing for Lopez. Raised in an extremely supportive environment, Lopez’s family turned against her when she first decided to seriously pursue dancing. “It was strange,” she recalls. “In a way, they were always so encouraging and helpful when it came to my artistic abilities, but when I wanted to be a dancer, they freaked; that was too much for them.” Coming from a very close-knit family, this was a very difficult experience for Lopez, who was then left to pursue her passion on her own. But, there was no doubt in Lopez’s mind that her decision was the right one. “I knew I wanted to be a dancer. I knew I needed to be a dancer,” she says. “I maintained faith in myself and what I wanted to do.”

Lopez chose to follow her heart and as a result, she has seen enormous success and wealth. But, Lopez will be the first to remind all other aspiring singers or budding entrepreneurs that true success can only come from following your passion and not the other way around. “If you focus on the money, you’re not going to get anywhere,” she says. “You can want to be successful, but at the end of the day, if money is your motivation, if that’s how shallow your outlook is on life, then you’re going to be such an empty person. Because there’s nothing driving you from the inside – there’s no passion.”

Despite following her passion, Lopez’s success is something that not even she could anticipate. “Of course I had dreams, every little girl has them,” she says. “But I never thought it would happen. It was a pretty long way and it wasn’t always easy.”

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Article Tags: acting career, actress, artistic abilities, dancer, dreams, faith, lawyer, little girl, living room, musical career, no doubt, parents, passion, professions, smooth sailing, supportive environment, transition



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