I had mice that I kept as pets when I was very young, and I've always liked the way they look. Even rats. I'm not scared of them.
Well, I made an announcement to my family at 8 that I wanted to be an actor, and I focused like a laser beam on it. I never had a fallback plan.
The beautiful thing about when you go through a slide is that you learn from it. Not just saying that you learn from it, but applying the things that you have learned.