As 2019 draws to a close, wrestler-turned-actor John Cena has told RTÉ Entertainment that his advice to people would be to chase their passion in the year ahead.
Cena is back on cinema screens from St Stephen's Day in the family comedy Playing with Fire, which tells the story of a wilderness firefighter who has to look after three children unexpectedly, quickly realising that there is more to life than climbing up the career ladder.
When asked if his own concept of success has changed over the years, Cena replied: "Totally. Man, we could dive into pre-programmed things about culture as a young kid - you know, 'Go to school. Success is doing well in school'. Or if you choose athletics or whatever you choose. And then you go on to university and then you go into the career world.
"There comes a time when all of the cultural posturing is over - usually it's around late twenties to mid-life - where you look around and it's like, 'What have I been doing all this for?'"
"To me, success is just being able to chase passion, being able to do what you love," Cena continued.
"Say you work 9-5 but you love being on a lake in the boat. The 9-5 may be a grind but man, as soon as you are in the middle of that quiet lake on the boat life is good. And you had to go through the grind to get on the boat!
"So any chance that I still have a shred of doing what I love - and what I love is entertaining audiences, telling stories - no matter the grind it's all good, because I still am chasing passion. To me, that's true success: just doing what you love."
Playing with Fire is in cinemas from Thursday, December 26.
