"You could be a famous novelist."

When I was in middle school, we had to read 25 books and write reports on them in order to earn our spot on a class trip at the end of the school year.

I was writing my own book in my free time, and I was really into it. I asked my teacher if it would be okay for me to submit pages from my original book instead of book reports on other books.

Instead of shutting me down and acting like it was just a stupid little project, she encouraged my creativity and let me share the pages with her instead of doing the book reports. She would read them with complete sincerity and respect, and then provide me with thoughtful and constructive comments. 

One time she told me, "You could be a famous novelist."

It is because of her encouragement that I have always felt confident pursuing creative passions, even when they're against what everyone else is doing.