I’m a mom, I’m a cyber security analyst , I’m a social entrepreneur, a marvel and video gamer fan and above all I’m HUMAN
It used to be very important to me that I lived a life where my past didn’t define who I am. I used to see me being a school drop out, homeless, or having cleaned people’s houses as a source of SHAME and it took me a very long time to become proud of the person I have grown into and to realize that I couldn’t actually be who I am today without everything I have had to live through.
I remember a time where I used to compare everyone’s happiness or success to my own but without realizing everyone has their own path through life to follow. Today when I think about my journey and the obstacles I’ve faced. it hit me If all our journeys were exactly the same…Wouldn’t life be boring?
So my journey has taken me so many places I never thought I would ever get to and one in particular where I gave my first TEDx talk on NOW in April 2019 for TEDx Flandres 10th anniversary.
Something funny is that I had been volunteering at TEDx Brussels and Women for almost 3 to 4 years in a row the reason why I accepted my friends offer to be involved was because I wanted to do something, and especially something meaningful that would lead me to connect with changemakers who were actually out there on the field changing the world.
Over the last couple of years in my career, I’ve done a couple of public speaking interventions, I’ve been able to slowly get over the fear of speaking in a public well that was all fine until I was invited to do a TED Talk. It was a very big moment of adrenaline, panic and what if I fail in front of such a huge audience or even worse faint or fall on stage before even opening my mouth!
Well, here it is the video of my Ted talk that I haven’t actually watched, to be honest.
My Talk – Now Is Not Forever
I don’t know how many of you know my background but if you know me you know had my fair share of failures and I had to pick myself up quite a few times along the way but I learned not to regret anything because I wouldn’t be the woman I am today if I hadn’t experienced it.
When I found that I was going to give my first Ted talk it took me a while of going back and forth asking friends what they thought about giving a Ted talk and if my idea was worth sharing with the world and finally we came up with ‘Now Is Not Forever’ because from my experience is when something wrong or terrible happens to us we tend to just see that dark valley we find ourselves in and nothing else, we forget that this experience is building us up to the stronger, wiser version of ourselves that can handle the next challenge coming our way!
Who I am today wasn’t who I was five or three years ago, and won’t be who I am in the next decade, the great thing about life is we are constantly evolving, growing and changing, and the experiences we encounter will continue to shape whom we become and it’s thanks to everything we have all been through that we get to become better and stronger versions of ourselves and you may be in the midst of the worst moment in your life and feel very weak, alone and lost right now.
A special thank you to Tedx Flanders for giving me this amazing opportunity to get on your stage and share my vision of the world and meeting amazing people
And the biggest thank you to my tribe, you know who you are, I appreciate your support, your encouragement during this amazing experience and I am glad I got to share it with you ladies.
But I want to remind you are stronger than you think, and whatever you are going through remember this Now Is Not Forever
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