01
See the world before you settle into it.
I grew up in North Toronto. It was all I knew, and I didn't appreciate how small my slice was. Then I moved to France at 18 and everything I thought I understood about myself was challenged. Living in a foreign environment as a young person was a fast track to personal growth and maturation. The same thing was true when I moved to Quebec, Cambridge, London and now San Francisco. I am a Torontonian, Ontarian, Canadian but I am also much more than that. Exploring the world has given me the confidence to see myself beyond the boundaries of where I grew up, and the courage to venture into the unknown. If you've never lived somewhere that made you feel like a stranger, go. If not abroad, to another province. You can always come back. You'll be better when you do.
02
Stay close to what engages you.
I studied philosophy because it kept me up at night. I dropped out of law school because it didn't. I ran a painting company one summer and a tutoring business the next because I wanted to be my own boss. I started Miniswap with my best friend because the work absorbed us both completely. The through-line of my trajectory is not a career plan but a series of moments where I followed what fully engaged me and walked away from what didn't, even when walking away was expensive. If something makes you lose track of time, take it seriously.
03
Don't forget where you came from.
The older I get, the more I understand that relationships are everything. To friends, to family, and to the people who believed in you before you had anything to show for it. The people I've loved have shaped me more than any degree or job ever could. The people you choose to pay attention to and surround yourself by are the architecture of your life. Everything else is furniture. Canada shaped who I am, and the relationships I have there are the reason I know I will one day be back.
