[Music]
[Applause]
have you ever thought of all the things
in your life that are the same we all
have certainties in our lives things
that are always known to us like our
name even before we are born our parents
have already decided for us certainty
creates balance stableness and peace of
mind now can you think of something that
is always unknown or changing in your
life we face uncertainty – something
that is usually not as pleasant will I
get the job will I have to work late on
this new project should I buy this
t-shirt or that one we live with
uncertainty every day and yet it never
gets easier uncertainty is scary because
it is shapeless I was only nine months
old when my parents moved from the big
city of Valencia to a smaller town
called Burkina where my mom and her
family had been living for a very long
time because so many generations of my
family had been living there there were
certainties to me the moment I was born
it was somehow written that I was going
to attend the same elementary school and
high school my mom had attended and my
cousin’s were attending I knew that I
was going to live in the same city for
at least 18 years I knew that I would
eventually graduate to attend University
in Spain I was going to follow a similar
my family had based on these given
things I constructed my own certainties
I joined the scouts troop which I loved
and I knew was going to be a part of my
life for a very long time I joined the
music school and in just a few years I
learned to play the saxophone
I had a stable group of friends I lived
a stable life but then when I was 11 I
moved to China and everything that had
been certain to me until then collapsed
my life had gone from being define to
being completely unstable I was no
longer sure of my future I didn’t know
what my high school life was going to be
like I didn’t know whether I was going
to live in the same place anymore I
didn’t know whether my current friends
and teachers would stay the following
year and not only I was uncertain about
the future which seemed and that moment
so changing and babe but I was uncertain
about my past how can we ever be
uncertain of the past has already
happened when I left Spain I left behind
the certainties that have been given to
me and those that I had constructed but
I no longer knew whether when I returned
for the holidays those certainties would
still be standing or there would be
nothing left of them I was powerless to
the uncertainties of my past and my
future since then I have been going back
to Spain every summer for five years
every summer I take with me my new
perspectives my ways new ways of living
experiences that I have developed living
in a foreign country but these
experiences and ways of living and
perspectives are so different to those
of my friends back home I no longer
follow the same way of life that most
teenagers do in my hometown I am
different this makes me uncertain about
my place as a teenager in my hometown
am I really from Regina if I have broken
this way of life and have a different
fate waiting for me if so where exactly
is my place I also find my friends back
home strange I find their ways of
communicating talking to each other
strange I feel strange with those people
that were once so similar to me again
this only helps uncertainty grow have I
changed too much am I just too
differently to ever fit in this context
will I ever find people similar to
myself during this five years I have
realized that it is no longer that it
was no longer about enduring uncertainty
and living with the worries and the
fears but rather about embracing it I
realized that the worst way to deal with
uncertainty is to do nothing for me
embracing the uncertainty of my past has
led me to reclaim my curiosity the
ability to ask questions about ourselves
in our changing environment is what
keeps an open mind
even if these questions are related to
her insecurities or uncertainties when
we stop expecting to know how the world
exactly works we can understand the ways
in which it doesn’t work as we expected
it to
we become more open to fresh ideas the
diversity of life and experiences and
perspectives and best of all an open
mind especially when combined with
courage allows us to take advantage of
the most unexpected opportunities I also
lived in a constantly changing future my
classmates and friends are never stable
I have changed my circle and friends in
Beijing several times in fact today only
one of my classmates from my first year
in Biss is still in school as a teenager
who’s more aware of her environment and
the people around her
I’m also uncertain about this factor but
my friends be here how will I ever form
lasting relationships if the people
around me are constantly changing while
being in Beijing the future for my
family has also been unstable we have
been trying to find new adventures and
this year we have decided to move
forward I’m starting all over again I
will once again have to leave behind the
certainties I have constructed only this
time in Beijing big change awaits my
entire family but somehow the
uncertainty of the future since
different now less scary during these
five years not only I have learned to
deal with the uncertainty of my past but
also of my future I have learned to
welcome change and the unknown and by
doing so I have realized the great
potential uncertainty has if we make the
effort to get out of our safe
predictable comfort zones or simply
we’re pulled out of them by the
circumstances in which we live we’re
better able to listen to ourselves
and our desires we should not be held by
the certainties of our past and our
futures we should not be held by our
fear and worry of uncertainty we should
be defined by what we want just as
uncertainty can be this blank canvas
onto which we project our greatest fears
it can also be the surface the pond in
Antonia Machado who was a Spanish poet
wrote a very famous poem during a time
of self search and doubt much like the
one I underwent when I left Spain and
one of the verses of his poem he said
wonder your folks your footsteps are the
road and nothing more
one learn there is no road the road is
made by walking Anthony O Machado
understood that when we let go of the
need for certainty we’re better able to
forge our own paths the unknown is
soaping to what you decide you want to
do with it which pathway you want to
take certainty on the contrary creates
sameness limits our ways of thinking
we must stop looking for clear-cut roads
through life because if we do we are
able to wander into the open letting our
footsteps become the path that is the
power of uncertainty even if uncertainty
might lead us through crossroads where
we don’t know which direction to take
let uncertainty be the opportunity to
explore new pathways see this crossroad
as a way to learn more about yourself in
your desires as a way to ask questions
of our environment creating open
and if you have found yourself in an
uncertain situation relationship stage
of life embrace it love it realize the
potential it has to help you grow see it
for what it is a gift thank you [Applause]
[Applause]
have you ever thought of all the things
in your life that are the same we all
have certainties in our lives things
that are always known to us like our
name even before we are born our parents
have already decided for us certainty
creates balance stableness and peace of
mind now can you think of something that
is always unknown or changing in your
life we face uncertainty – something
that is usually not as pleasant will I
get the job will I have to work late on
this new project should I buy this
t-shirt or that one we live with
uncertainty every day and yet it never
gets easier uncertainty is scary because
it is shapeless I was only nine months
old when my parents moved from the big
city of Valencia to a smaller town
called Burkina where my mom and her
family had been living for a very long
time because so many generations of my
family had been living there there were
certainties to me the moment I was born
it was somehow written that I was going
to attend the same elementary school and
high school my mom had attended and my
cousin’s were attending I knew that I
was going to live in the same city for
at least 18 years I knew that I would
eventually graduate to attend University
in Spain I was going to follow a similar
my family had based on these given
things I constructed my own certainties
I joined the scouts troop which I loved
and I knew was going to be a part of my
life for a very long time I joined the
music school and in just a few years I
learned to play the saxophone
I had a stable group of friends I lived
a stable life but then when I was 11 I
moved to China and everything that had
been certain to me until then collapsed
my life had gone from being define to
being completely unstable I was no
longer sure of my future I didn’t know
what my high school life was going to be
like I didn’t know whether I was going
to live in the same place anymore I
didn’t know whether my current friends
and teachers would stay the following
year and not only I was uncertain about
the future which seemed and that moment
so changing and babe but I was uncertain
about my past how can we ever be
uncertain of the past has already
happened when I left Spain I left behind
the certainties that have been given to
me and those that I had constructed but
I no longer knew whether when I returned
for the holidays those certainties would
still be standing or there would be
nothing left of them I was powerless to
the uncertainties of my past and my
future since then I have been going back
to Spain every summer for five years
every summer I take with me my new
perspectives my ways new ways of living
experiences that I have developed living
in a foreign country but these
experiences and ways of living and
perspectives are so different to those
of my friends back home I no longer
follow the same way of life that most
teenagers do in my hometown I am
different this makes me uncertain about
my place as a teenager in my hometown
am I really from Regina if I have broken
this way of life and have a different
fate waiting for me if so where exactly
is my place I also find my friends back
home strange I find their ways of
communicating talking to each other
strange I feel strange with those people
that were once so similar to me again
this only helps uncertainty grow have I
changed too much am I just too
differently to ever fit in this context
will I ever find people similar to
myself during this five years I have
realized that it is no longer that it
was no longer about enduring uncertainty
and living with the worries and the
fears but rather about embracing it I
realized that the worst way to deal with
uncertainty is to do nothing for me
embracing the uncertainty of my past has
led me to reclaim my curiosity the
ability to ask questions about ourselves
in our changing environment is what
keeps an open mind
even if these questions are related to
her insecurities or uncertainties when
we stop expecting to know how the world
exactly works we can understand the ways
in which it doesn’t work as we expected
it to
we become more open to fresh ideas the
diversity of life and experiences and
perspectives and best of all an open
mind especially when combined with
courage allows us to take advantage of
the most unexpected opportunities I also
lived in a constantly changing future my
classmates and friends are never stable
I have changed my circle and friends in
Beijing several times in fact today only
one of my classmates from my first year
in Biss is still in school as a teenager
who’s more aware of her environment and
the people around her
I’m also uncertain about this factor but
my friends be here how will I ever form
lasting relationships if the people
around me are constantly changing while
being in Beijing the future for my
family has also been unstable we have
been trying to find new adventures and
this year we have decided to move
forward I’m starting all over again I
will once again have to leave behind the
certainties I have constructed only this
time in Beijing big change awaits my
entire family but somehow the
uncertainty of the future since
different now less scary during these
five years not only I have learned to
deal with the uncertainty of my past but
also of my future I have learned to
welcome change and the unknown and by
doing so I have realized the great
potential uncertainty has if we make the
effort to get out of our safe
predictable comfort zones or simply
we’re pulled out of them by the
circumstances in which we live we’re
better able to listen to ourselves
and our desires we should not be held by
the certainties of our past and our
futures we should not be held by our
fear and worry of uncertainty we should
be defined by what we want just as
uncertainty can be this blank canvas
onto which we project our greatest fears
it can also be the surface the pond in
Antonia Machado who was a Spanish poet
wrote a very famous poem during a time
of self search and doubt much like the
one I underwent when I left Spain and
one of the verses of his poem he said
wonder your folks your footsteps are the
road and nothing more
one learn there is no road the road is
made by walking Anthony O Machado
understood that when we let go of the
need for certainty we’re better able to
forge our own paths the unknown is
soaping to what you decide you want to
do with it which pathway you want to
take certainty on the contrary creates
sameness limits our ways of thinking
we must stop looking for clear-cut roads
through life because if we do we are
able to wander into the open letting our
footsteps become the path that is the
power of uncertainty even if uncertainty
might lead us through crossroads where
we don’t know which direction to take
let uncertainty be the opportunity to
explore new pathways see this crossroad
as a way to learn more about yourself in
your desires as a way to ask questions
of our environment creating open
and if you have found yourself in an
uncertain situation relationship stage
of life embrace it love it realize the
potential it has to help you grow see it
for what it is a gift thank you [Applause]
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