Advice from ATP Player Jean-Yves Aubone (@JYNole): Chase Down Those Balls, Those Dreams Jean-Yves Aubone, Tennis Atlantic
Do what makes you happy and you’ll be rich for life.
This time three years ago, I took one of the biggest risks of my life. I left my job in one of the best investment banks in the world, to pursue a dream I had as child: to be a professional tennis player.
I did it for two reasons.
First, I was unhappy. I had been working in finance for two years and even though I was financially independent and living in one of the hottest spots in Miami, I would spend my Sunday night’s sitting on the balcony of my downtown condo, dreading going to work in the morning. I’d stare off into the distance trying to come up with an idea that would make it possible to quit and move on to something better.
Second, I started to wonder what could have been. I was seeing guys I had competed with and even beat playing in the qualifying and main draw of grand slams. Could that have been me?
In the few professional tennis events I played while attending Florida State University, my singles ranking got up to 475 in the world. What if I played a full year, or two? Could I have achieved my childhood dream?
Finally, I got tired of hating Mondays. I realized I was going to have to work for the rest of my life whether I liked it or not. Finance jobs will always be there, but the opportunity to give professional tennis a shot is limited.
I told my bosses of my decision to leave their group to pursue my dream of being a professional tennis player. Since I had only been there one year and committed to two or three, they weren’t thrilled, but respected my decision. One of my bosses reminded me that I was probably making one of the dumbest decisions of my life. Financially, he couldn’t have been more right. I went from having a nice looking bank account to being in debt. I’m now fully supported by my parents and 100% of the money I see goes right into basic living expenses and tennis.
As far as my happiness and well-being goes, I can say with absolutely certainty I made the right decision. There hasn’t been a single day I wished I stayed in that office, sitting in front of three computer screens for at least 11 hours a day. I’m broke and couldn’t be happier. I have everything I truly want in this world.
My message to the world:
Do what makes you happy and you’ll be rich for life.
I’ll always remember my last day at work. Many people said how happy they were for me that I had the courage to risk everything. They wished they could’ve left their job to pursue a dream of theirs but it was too late. They all had families and couldn’t afford to give up their well-paying job.
I chased the money. I chased the fancy resume building job title. I chased the designer clothes and the cool vacations.
I chased everything that was fake. Result: I was miserable.
Now I’m chasing my dreams. Result: I’m happier than ever.
Life On Tour with Conny Perrin: March 2015 “My Reality Of Life To The World” Conny Perrin, Tennis Atlantic
For Her March Update, Conny wanted to share this free-writing piece that she wrote from her heart, we hope you enjoy!.-The Editors
Have you create a life for yourself where you are free to discover all your sweetest and darkest fantasies? I have, I’m beautifully broken in my own way, free & blessed because I think that life is a beautiful – sad adventure that needs to be discovered to the fullest, just so you can learn & try to be a better person day by day along the way & simply just grow. I’m blessed to feel everything so very deeply, to give & receive LOVE without any expectations. I’m just very passionate about emotions, perfectly imperfect beautiful souls, this amazing fucked up world we are living in & just so in love with this interesting thing called LIFE, I’m just mad to live. I’m also addicted to the wild side of it from time to time, wouldn’t be able to survive without it, cause life gets way too boring without a touch of “danger”. When I say danger, I don’t mean it as an auto destructive one, I mean it in a good way with BALANCE & CONTROL. That’s also I guess a protection for the things & people that aren’t meant to be or that aren’t really on the same page as me & my own reality, but I will always respect them as they are, their opinions & choices, cause remember hate isn’t healthy sweetie.
I think it makes totally sense, because have you ever heard about the word BALANCE? I think life is all about it, without this powerful value, I think you can never truly find the peace of mind, which goes together with HAPPINESS & this important quality will make you able to stay stronger, clearer & wiser when some unfortunate series of events happen along the way. Which will always be cause as we all know, you can’t control everything in life, u just never know. I was wondering, what is actually good or bad in this life? Well, I think it all depends about our own reality, experiences & only you know it, because at the end everybody is different, even though some people have similarities of course & I think that’s where chemistry grows.
Have you ever heard about the word CHEMISTRY? This weird but beautiful power that connect us all in different ways. Some in a friendly way without benefits, some more deeply with benefits, passionate & deep love but still with a touch of FREEDOM. Unfortunately too less souls are able to feel that kind of connection, most of them get too emotionally involved or get hurt while losing their balance. The sad part even if you have been honest to them from the very beginning, so I think only those who can truly deal the right way with their emotions & usually the beautiful broken ones are able to do so. But at the end, I think HONESTY is one of the most respectful value you can have & whatever happens always being honest is a sign of maturity, ststrengthor yourself & others, because I know what it feels like to be hurt or suffer for any kind of reasons & that’s also why I value it a lot. If people hurt themselves because they can’t really deal with their emotions, that’s different as long you have been real & true to them, it’s the most important & it will not have any bad impact on your conscience, if you are honest to the world.
Then there is the complete opposite those that u will be unable to connect, even with all the efforts in the world & then there is the very few ones with this magnetic connection that I call true love. To me true love still needs to have a touch of freedom & just being able to be perfectly imperfect together, cause life is just too short to be stuck in a cage for someone, to be someone that u are not or to live as a sheep for the rest of your life, that surely isn’t true love to me. I also think that no love is twice the same, that’s why I wanna believe in forever, even though forever seems scary & beautiful at the same time, forever is still a paradox to me, because I think our needs change along the way & we should just be able to deal with it the right way to keep this special fire burning between two souls, which isn’t always easy, but surely possible & worth it.
I simply just think that the SOUL doesn’t lie, the soul is true, you should feel, be blessed & cherish for the ones that you truly go along with, as you should respect the ones that you don’t. I just think that this life is too beautiful & short, as it is too cruel sometimes to be unlived & that’s what make the beauty of it, so don’t wait until an unfortunate series of events happen to realize it. We all know that sometimes life doesn’t always go the way we want it to, but that’s what makes everything so interesting & it might be too late to realize it, so just fuck it, make mistakes, get back up, learn, grow & just LIVE!
I’m surely not the only one who thinks like that, but unfortunately too less people do & I think they are just affraid to break the routine, afraid of the new or maybe they fear life too much? I don’t really know, but if they just knew… And tell me what does it cost to explore the new, the mysteries? But hold on, I guess they think I’m insane to think that way which is ok for me, because that’s what make us so different from one another, but that’s also why this world will never really change for the better, because people are just affraid of the new & their own life. Remember, the ones who are mad to live are usually the ones who are crazy enough to change the world, but at the end we all know that they will not even be noticed, remembered or maybe yes as “BLACK SHEEPS”. But at the end is it wrong to be different?
I don’t think so, I really don’t think so for me it is a gift & I go along with it, with the strive to always get better in every way of my personal life & the right people around me. Because what you call the “BLACK SHEEPS” or the “CRAZY ONES” are usually the strongest most sensitive people with a heart of gold who has an understanding for life due their past scars, which make them vulnerable & who usually hide the deepest secrets. Isn’t it fascinating to carry a beautiful broken soul? I think it’s very special & the people who will understand you, take you as you are will bring the best out of you, those are the ones to be blessed for & to cherish cause those are the right ones. They think & love similar in many ways, while the rest can’t really figure out who you truly are & at the end it doesn’t really matter because remember the soul doesn’t lie, the soul is true & it will carry you to the ones who will light your path.-Conny Perrin
Tennis Atlantic 