You know what’s worse than pursuing your dream job and failing? Choosing a “safe,” “practical” job over your dream job and failing.

Jim Carrey’s commencement speech at the Maharishi University of Management from a few weeks ago was full of wise words (...and jokes, of course), but the most touching was the story he shared about his father:

“My father could have been a great comedian, but he didn’t believe that was possible for him. And so he made a conservative choice. Instead, he got a safe job as an accountant. But when I was 12 years old, he was let go from that safe job, and our family had to do whatever it could to survive.”

He continued, “I learned many great lessons from my father, not the least of which was that you can fail at what you don’t want, so you might as well take a chance on doing what you love.”

No matter how you came into freelancing, the fact that you are able to pursue your passion every day as a source of income (whether full time or not) is a gift that a lot of people are too afraid to give themselves.

Allow yourself 25 minutes and enjoy the full commencement speech below: