Don’t give up on your life, it’s fine giving up on your career for sometime, says actor Vikram Rathod

In a span of 12 years into acting, I have thought of giving up on my life couple of times but I feel that would be the easiest way out and instead I gave up on my career not once, not twice but 8 times and did jobs from banking to aviation to business to creative.

I feel stabilizing yourself financially and mentally is very important in the journey of achieving your dreams. 4 years back when I felt strong mentally, financially and focused on my inner dreams, I started auditioning again and never looked back. While doing those 8 jobs, I juggled with the auditions and learnt about art in various forms. So my dreams remained alive in some form or other. Although, in 2017, I resolutely decided to focus on acting only. Before 2017, I had done numerous commercials and print ads.

When I did quit my last job in 2017 and started auditioning, I got my first continuity show ‘Yeh Un Dino ki baat hai on Sony channel. In 2018 in 'Siddhivinayak' on &TV then my biggest feat, ‘Ragini Mms 2' on Alt Balaji in 2019 and from 2020 till now I have been working in the serial, ‘Qurbaan Hua' on Zee TV.

There are different types of people who wish to be actor: either they are from good financial background, or they have some extraordinary good looks, some are influencers with good followers and some are our very own star kids but if you're like me from a middle class, non supportive family and a decent looking person, you should be mentally strong, hard working and keep low expectations with a positive mindset.

Also, you have to constantly pursue your dreams and work hard to fulfil them. Keeping yourself financially stable while making this process work for yourself, a plan to survive throughout and achieve what you want ultimately is a skill to be mastered. Quite difficult but not impossible. Those who belong to a different field, can pursue acting anytime. There’s no specific age for the same. Keep researching, know things before hand, prepare yourself a bit as an actor and be financially stable, so you can focus on your dreams. Don't forget, you may have to keep trying numerous things sometimes to ultimately reach where you want to be.

So, I would end this by saying whenever you are in blues and discontented with your current status of life--just don’t give up on life. Sounds easy, No. But trust me, I have been there. Instead, breathe-think-workout options-do self talk-plan-execute or take up something for that moment whether it be a month or year, something you can be financially and mentally stable with. You can call it a break but when you’re over with this break, be back strong, chase your dreams and soar high. In every way!