Little Voices,
Big Dreams

Like losing meant something was permanently wrong with me. Winning is always the whole point — even at something I had only just started learning. I went quiet for a while after that. I had failed.

But slowly — very slowly — all thanks to my dad (and mum too) — I started to think differently. Not pretending I wasn't sad. I was sad. I still get sad when I lose. I probably always will. But I started letting it go. Instead of fighting the feeling, I let it be there. And then I started asking myself — what could I do? What can I do? What do I actually know?

It happened again with tennis. And maths competitions. Each time, the same feeling — the same quiet after. And each time, a little easier to find my way back.

Then, on my mum's 40th birthday, something happened. Instead of a card, I gave her something I had made. A gift — with my own hands and handwriting (which she says can be better) and strung it together. That gift was the spark that became this book.

The book Jai made as a gift — before it became this

This book is for you — whoever you are. Maybe you've got exams coming up and you'd rather do literally anything else. Maybe you lost something recently and it's still bugging you. Maybe a friendship got weird and you don't know how to fix it. That's okay. This book gets it.

I wrote 21 affirmations. One for every time I needed to hear something I didn't know how to say.

— Jai Tejwani Written when I was 10 (with a little editorial help from my mum).
For my parents. And my sister. And now for you.

Curious how we actually built it? →