MASTERPIECE CREATIONS

 

“Never let someone’s words make you live a life that you don't want to.”

 

I was born on the beautiful Emerald Isle of Montserrat in a small tight knit village called Windy Hill and attended a Seventh-Day Adventist Christian school. In my early years, I learned to love the Lord with all my heart and have allowed Him to lead me in all I do. This is where I learned to dream big and reach for the stars. I was a very slow learner in school and found the very basic things hard to understand. People used to call me names such as slow, backward and dumb. I was made to stand at the back of the class with clothes pins on my lips because my teachers thought I talked too much. Some teachers even told me that I would never amount to anything because my head was too hard; stubborn and opinionated. I wet my bed until I was a teenager. People teased me because of my height, being a little shorter than the average boy at the time. I struggled in school and could not read and write fluently throughout my adolescent years, until I was an adult. I seemed like a lost cause; however, I had the love of a mother, the strength of a father and a best friend called God. Even when I felt like I wanted to give up on life, deep down I knew I was destined for something special. While growing up on the beautiful Emerald Isle of Montserrat, I had a sense of security, constantly learning as a young man, knowing that God had me exactly where I needed to be. I knew that I was born to be great! I knew that loving and caring for people was the best thing that someone could do and I had a special gift for it. My story of defeating the odds and a will to succeed and chase my dreams, would help to encourage many lives all around the world. All my life I wanted to touch lives and help people. I love meeting people, listening to them and giving good advice. I will tell you another thing, “I love to talk.” Always have. It was there, I found my love for words. I always tried to use elaborate words and speak eloquently. As years went on, I told myself that one day something great was to become of me; but I was not sure what it was.

Gershom’s belief was that greatness is inside of everyone and his love for God would help him to release his full potential and shine for the world to see. He believes, “Everyone has a story to tell  and your greatest fortune is inside of you.” If you believe in yourself and are willing to work hard. Never ever give up! Never quit! Your prize is right there for the taking.

At the age of fifteen, my country was devastated by the Soufriere Hills volcano. It was extremely difficult for us to attend school and to maintain our previous lifestyle. As Montserrat is a colony of Great Britain, my parents made the difficult decision to leave Montserrat and move to London, England. It was a hard period for me to leave my island and move thousands of miles away to a new country and experience a totally different culture. I found it hard to adjust to this new country and eventually had to make the difficult transition of starting over in a new school.

I love nature and being outdoors and during this time, I often spent hours in the local park. It was here that I began to meet and talk with people, listening to their challenges and sharing words of advice and encouragement. I began to realize that I had a gift for helping people. It was here that I found my passion to inspire and motivate others but did not know how to turn it into monetary gain, so I did it for free. I was happier seeing people changing  and transforming their lives, releasing themselves from their burdens and getting free.

 

At 16 years old, having lost everything I held dear to a live volcano in Montserrat, I felt like my life was falling apart. After arriving in London, I enrolled in college and eventually, dropped out. I, then, spent most of my daylight hours sleeping my life away not compelled to do anything at all but lie there; wallowing in self-pity. My parents were stressed out over my so-called lifestyle and at this point, just wanted me to get a job. So I did. I found a job in a warehouse, packing bathroom suite boxes and did so, for the next nine years. Trudging along aimlessly; a broken man with shattered dreams.

I knew this was not how I wanted to spend the rest of my life when I had such big dreams. I realized that my fears of being unable to read, write or even spell my second name which is Jerome by the way, is what held me back tremendously. I felt ashamed, like I was wasting my God given talents and knew then, it was time for a change. So I made the difficult decision to quit my job and move to Florida and find myself. A new state, with new direction. Focused, in search of my inspiration.