When Dwayne Johnson hit the rock bottom, he only had 7 bucks in his pocket. He reveals why that was the best thing which happened in his life.
In this case, the saying “everything happens for a reason” proved to be true. When Johnson got cut from his Canadian football club, he was depressed and in the recent series of posts on Instagram, he revealed the dark past. “Not an easy concept to process, but the idea that sometimes our biggest and most important dreams that DON’T COME TRUE are often times the BEST THING that never happened,” explained Johnson in a video from the set of Jungle Cruise.
“Before I get called to set, I look up and see a CFL (Canadian Football League) game on my TV,” Johnson said. “I do a double take and realize that’s the same field I played on when I played in the CFL.”
Moreover, the man who Johnson saw on TV was Wally Buono, the man who coached and mentored him, but he was also the one who cut him from the team. “I appreciate that man so much and I appreciate playing on that very field … I wanted to make it so badly, but guys sometimes in life something you want so badly, sometimes they’re the best dreams that never happen, so for me playing in the NFL was the best thing that never happened,” Johnson said.
Johnson was a football player at the University of Miami with the hope of going to the NFL one day. However, he joined the Calgary Stampeders after the graduation, a team from the Canadian Football League. According to Johnson, even then, he was the “hardest worker in the room” and he was hoping of becoming an All-Pro/Super Bowl Champion one day.
“Instead, I was cut from the team, told I wasn’t good enough — and sent home with $7 bucks to my name,” Johnson said in his post. “After years of blood, sweat, guts and tears, my dream was over. Fell into depression, didn’t know what to do or where to turn.” And then he decided to take a different path. It wasn’t easy, but it is what he had to do.
“I’ve been there, so I encourage you to keep working hard and remember that sometimes our dreams that don’t come true, can ultimately become the best thing that never happened.” A few days ago, he posted a photo on Instagram from a tunnel he was hoping to run through as a professional NFL player.
“Good to stand in one of the most famous stadium tunnels in the world that leads to gridiron dreams,” he said in the caption. “Stood in this tunnel and had a good sobering laugh with myself … I thought hell, had I been a little bit better of a player … made 5 more tackles and a sack per game and my life would’ve been drastically different. Just wasn’t meant to be and more importantly, I just wasn’t playing the right game. Raising a grateful glass of tequila to dreams that don’t come true.”
After he was cut, he was forced to return to his parents’ house in Florida and later he would become one of the most famous professional wrestlers. When he made his mark in WWE, he was ready for a bigger industry and he went to Hollywood. The Rock is topping this year’s Forbes list as the highest-paid Hollywood actor.
So remember, in the words of the great Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson: “Dreams ain’t just for dreamers. Especially the ones that don’t come true.” This is an impressive story we can all learn from – the most important thing is to never give up.
