Be Inspired by Lizzie Velasquez (Motivational Speaker)

I never heard or read anything about Lizzie Velasquez until last night, when I saw a video of her talk at TED x Austin Women last night on YouTube. Thanks to my friend who posted that link on Facebook that I again knew another person, who despite of being different and having difficult times in life due to social standards, she still live a happy and positive life and doing her best to motivate other people as well. 

As you can see in the preview of the video below, Lizzie looks kind of different. And that is because she was born with a very rare disease, which doesn't allow her to gain weight. She also has no vision on her right eye. But her parents raised her to be a normal child. Although we all know that her situation is something that will be subject to bullying. And bullying was what she experience while growing up. I was already in tears when she came to the part where she first discovered that there was a short video of her uploaded on YouTube having a title of "The Ugliest Woman in the World". It was already painful to hear bad things from one person. How much more when those hurtful words come from so many strangers (the video was said to have 4 million views), even requesting you to end your life just to do them a favor.

"What defines you?" This was the question that she left the audience during her talk. I was actually surprised since I was not able to think of an immediate answer myself when she said that. But she was right, that was the key to everyone who has lots of insecurities or fear or something that are keeping them to do great things. If she let those negative things define who she is, then Lizzie would have not done all her goals and dreams of becoming a motivational speaker and having a stable career. She graduated college and she was even able to write three books! There will be a lot of things that will make it hard for us to achieve success especially if we let ourselves be defined by the standards that our society/people around us dictate. I know it is not easy, I still am guilty with this from time to time since I have lots of insecurities. But I still believe that we are the only one who can choose what path we are gonna take: if we choose to dwell on those insecurities and drown in sadness, or choose to be happy and do a work around and develop ourselves if we feel lacking on certain areas. 

I like that she really turned all the negative things that surrounds her as motivation to push her to work hard and to improve herself. I am not sure if I could have done the same thing if I were in her shoes. But I thank her for making her life an example of how to overcome such a harsh situation by having a positive outlook. And as for my answer to her question, I think what defines me now are my values and dreams as well as the things that I do to make my loved ones and myself happy. And in the future, I want to be someone that will be able to inspire other people as well. 

Please watch her video below and be inspired by Lizzie as well. And as for her question, have you ever thought what really defines you? Have an amazing day everyone!

How do You Define Yourself - Lizzie Velasquez