(EXEMPLARY LIVES)  Before deciding to become a painter, Vincent Van Gogh worked and got fired from an art dealership, worked and got fired from a job teaching at a school for boys, worked and quit a bookstore, and enrolled in a theology degree to become a pastor. He quit his theological studies to live in a mining town to preach to miners.

Vincent only decided to train as a painter at 27 years old. Suffering from seizures and depression, Vincent lived a life of poverty, losing first his teeth, then his physical health, and finally his mental health. He practiced endlessly and by the end of his life had over 2,000 paintings.

Of the 2,000 Vincent only sold one during his lifetime. His parents died convinced he was a failure. Vincent would shoot himself 10 years after deciding to become a painter.

While life did everything in its power to convince him otherwise, it was Vincent's unshakeable belief in himself and his passion for art that allowed him to continue to push through and lead an exemplary life.