As a child I was given mainly negative encouragement from joining the RAF as a pilot. Despite that, I was successful in getting accepted after a few major setbacks (nil pilot recruiting was the main one and the RAF offered me a commission as a navigator because that’s what they needed back then). I subsequently managed almost two decades as a pilot before taking my option to leave at the age of 38 then flew for over another two decades in the civilian world.
I’ve been very lucky because I’ve never had a day’s unemployment. If I’d not followed my dream things would no doubt have been very different.