You might just think of Jim Carrey as a highly energetic, animated actor and comedian, but he can also teach us valuable life lessons through his own personal experiences. While he had many struggles early on in his life and career, he pushed through and rose to fame and success by never letting go of his dream.
We see Carrey on TV or in movies and easily laugh at his slapstick comedic routines and humor, but beyond that, he possesses a lot of wisdom about how to live the best life possible.
Here are 11 life-changing lessons to learn from Jim Carrey:
1. Appreciate the little things.
“I wake up some mornings and sit and have my coffee and look out at my beautiful garden, and I go, ‘Remember how good this is. Because you can lose it.'”
2. Jim Carrey does not take life too seriously.
“My focus is to forget the pain of life. Forget the pain, mock the pain, reduce it. And laugh.”
3. Never doubt your potential.
“Maybe other people will try to limit me but I don’t limit myself.”
“If you’ve got a talent, protect it.”
4. Take responsibility for your life.
“I really believe in the philosophy that you create your own universe. I’m just trying to create a good one for myself.”
5. Stay humble.
“I’m the first to admit this whole salary thing is getting out of control. In the final analysis, it’s still about the work.”
“I feel like I want to take care of everyone and I also feel this terrible guilt if I am unable to. And I have felt this way ever since all this success started.”
“Life is an ordeal, albeit an exciting one, but I wouldn’t trade it for the good old days of poverty and obscurity.”
6. Don’t forget about what really matters.
“I got a lot of support from my parents. That’s the one thing I always appreciated. They didn’t tell me I was being stupid; they told me I was being funny.”
“If you aren’t in the moment, you are either looking forward to uncertainty, or back to pain and regret.”
“Creative people don’t behave very well generally. If you’re looking for examples of good relationships in show business, you’re gonna be depressed real fast. I don’t have time for anything else right now but work and my daughter. She’s my first priority.”
7. Have a sense of humor.
“Behind every great man is a woman rolling her eyes.”
“Ya know what I do almost every day? I wash. Personal hygiene is part of the package with me.”
“Maybe there is no actual place called hell. Maybe hell is just having to listen to our grandparents breathe through their noses when they’re eating sandwiches.”
8. Jim Carrey lives life by his own rules.
“I practiced making faces in the mirror and it would drive my mother crazy. She used to scare me by saying that I was going to see the devil if I kept looking in the mirror. That fascinated me even more, of course.”
“You know, I live a monastic lifestyle. No, I do. I do live in extremes, basically. I go back and forth. Once every six months, I’ll have a day where I eat more chocolate than has ever been consumed by a human being.”
“I’m very serious about no alcohol, no drugs. Life is too beautiful.”
9. Jim Carrey knows that things aren’t always as they seem.
“I tend to stay up late, not because I’m partying but because it’s the only time of the day when I’m alone and don’t have to be performing.”
“That’s the trouble with being me. At this point, nobody gives a damn what my problem is. I could literally have a tumor on the side of my head and they’d be like, ‘Yeah, big deal. I’d eat a tumor every morning for the kinda money you’re pulling down.'”
“I think I could go away tomorrow. I’ve already accomplished something. It’s such a selfish business that sometimes I get sick of myself.”
“I’m so wrapped up in my work that it’s often impossible to consider other things in my life. My marriage ended in divorce because of this, my relationship with Holly has suffered by this.”
10. Jim Carrey is not afraid to change.
“I’ve arrived at the place if I’m not taking a career risk, I’m not happy. If I’m scared, then I know I’m being challenged.”
“I know this sounds strange, but as a kid, I was really shy. Painfully shy. The turning point was freshman year, when I was the biggest geek alive. No one, I mean no one, even talked to me.”
11. Take risks, no matter how scary they seem.
“I don’t think human beings learn anything without desperation. Desperation is a necessary ingredient to learning anything or creating anything. Period. If you ain’t desperate at some point, you ain’t interesting.”
“It is better to risk starving to death than surrender. If you give up on your dreams, what’s left?”
“Life opens up opportunities to you, and you either take them or you stay afraid of taking them.”
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