Carlos Chan Reflects on Stepping Out of His Comfort Zone
Celebrating his 36th birthday recently, many exciting life milestones is coming Carlos Chan’s (陳家樂) way. In addition to having a thriving acting career, Carlos will also be marrying his girlfriend of two years, Shiga Lin (連詩雅).
In the industry for nearly 20 years, Carlos reflected on his growth through the years. When he was 20 years old, he went to an office job “watching the clock every day and thinking about when it was time to get off work.” Although he would live paycheck to paycheck on a meager monthly salary, Carlos realized, “I didn’t have progress in my career and I didn’t have any dreams. Even a salted fish had more taste [personality] than me.”
Even his boss could not ignore Carlos’ lack of ambition. “He asked me one day, ‘What do you want to do? Why don’t you think about whether there is something else more suitable for you. I’ll give you one night to think about it.’ I didn’t want to lose the few thousand HKD I was making, so I planned to go back to my boss the next day and tell him I would work harder.” However, his boss interrupted and said, ‘You thought about it and are planning to leave, right?! I’ve already tied up all the loose ends for you, so you don’t need to worry.’ At that time, I was dumbstruck and couldn’t even react. I could only smile weakly and nod, then phonily replied ‘How did you know I was planning to leave?’”
Although the incident seemed awkward and Carlos was more or less forced to leave his job, he remains thankful for his boss, who unknowingly gave him the courage to enter the entertainment industry. “At the time, I actually really hated this boss of mine. He wanted to fire me, but beat around the bush and took such a roundabout way of doing it. Later, I realized his method helped save face for me. The point is, he forced me to come out of my comfort zone. If he didn’t help me make this decision, then there definitely wouldn’t be the Carlos today pursuing his dreams. On my 36th birthday, I suddenly want to thank this previous boss of mine.”
Many of his friends from the entertainment industry left encouraging messages for Carlos, including Yoyo Chen (陳自瑤) and Priscilla Wong (黃翠如). His fiancé, Shiga, also commented with words of support. Netizens joked and added, “Luckily that boss fired you, or you would never have met Shiga!”
Source: HK01
This article is written by Huynh for JayneStars.com.
