Yours is an excellent one.

I have a couple of them.

A few years after starting my business as a side gig and after a 1 year contract job ended. I was offered a renewal but decided to focus solely on my business instead. I took a 70% pay cut (well 70% gross, net it was closer to 50%).

My wife and I stuck it out in the early years and created a great life and family even though when we first got together we lived a 5 hour flight away in different countries. Even after my son was born the first four years or so we did a lot of travelling between Canada and the US and at times spent a lot of time apart as I was working on my business in Canada and she was working/taking care of the little one/sorting out life in the US. After much debate and discussion and me almost relocating to the US, we eventually settled in Canada permanently. (At least semi-permanently, we do plan to have a home in the US as well at some point).