Think Big: My Mother’s Enduring Message
Although I have spent most of my life in Toronto, I was born in Trinidad. When I was six my mother moved my two brothers and me into a one-room apartment in a tough neighbourhood. Everyone slept in the same bed for that first year, but under no circumstances did my mother allow that to deter me or my brothers from our dreams.
Mom’s message was clear: you will not let your environment determine your outcome. She encouraged us to think bigger than these four walls; bigger than our neighbourhood; bigger than our city. So despite all the chaos happening around us, I never once felt my dreams limited by what I saw outside.
Encouragement and energy
When I started writing at eight years old, my mother encouraged it. She let me know that a career as a writer was possible: that I could be the best author in the world if I wanted to. When I started pursuing writing as a career after university, she kept that same energy. She didn’t tell me “get a real job,” or say “what if this doesn’t work out?” Instead, she came to my book launches, shared links to purchase my novels with her friends, and bragged about her son, the author.
It’s impossible to measure the type of impact this encouragement had on me. I never felt that where I am today, and the success that I am enjoying, was something other than possible — inevitable, even. My mother is directly responsible for that mindset.
“Think Big,” she said. I did, and here I am.
