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Finding Balance at the Edge of Chaos | Tushar Mishra | TEDxUIUC


I want you to think back to where you
were 5 10 15 years ago what did you want
and how has that changed and did any of
those carefully crafted plans involve
you being here today not just here at
this event or here at this University
but here where you are in life right now
for some of you that answer is going to
be an absolute yes for me it was
definitely not growing up I never
envisioned I could be in a place like
this or on a stage like this I fully
intended to drop out of high school and
instead ended up at UC Berkeley so if
you want proof that life does not work
the way you think it will there’s that
but I think overall things rarely if
ever go according to plan
and I’m here to tell you why that’s ok
so let me take you back 15 years ago I
was boarding a flight to India for the
first time I was thrilled because I
wanted to be a pilot that was my grand
plan I was also a stubborn kid so after
an hour of hearing me asked if I could
meet the pilots at the 45th time I think
the flight attendant got the hint and
asked if maybe I’d like to do that and
so I was over the moon I went and said
hello but in my mind the being a pilot
started right then this was the
interview so not only did I say hello I
gave them my full government name my
date of birth my favorite color my first
grade teachers name in case they wanted
any references
it was a little bit extra and as life
does life happens and a week later I got
my first pair of glasses which is what
happens when you read in the car and
under the covers and in the bathroom and
pretty much everywhere else so my dream
of being a pilot ended the reading habit
and the glass is stuck so fast-forward
five years to fifth grade and now a
precocious ten-year-old I had a bowl cut
which was a look so between that and the
round frame glasses I was really putting
together an aesthetic that was equal
parts Harry Potter meets painfully
awkward brown boy this was around the
time that I realized my brain was
starting to work a little bit
differently and sometimes that was
really cool I would remember pictures
and images or snippets of words and be
able to spell them and they would be
tricky ones like ameliorate or
convalescence and I would have seen them
in a book or on a billboard or probably
in a book I’ve never seen a billboard
use ameliorate but is that was
interesting that led me to conclude that
I was never going to study for a
spelling test again which set the stage
for a vicious procrastination habit I
have never really been able to break it
worked well because at the time my new
plan was to be a writer I’m terrible
with deadlines spend more time talking
you know in my books than talking to
real human beings so it seemed to work
well but there were there were less
ideal changes to organization became a
nightmare my backpack very quickly
became a black hole into which homework
report cards tests went in some magic
happened and then excuses came out at
home despite my best efforts to be
productive I would spend 4 and a half
hours zoning out and zone back in
realizing that I was reading about
greco-roman architecture which no
offense to any architecture majors in
the audience but I’ve never used in my
life and this this set a pretty
repetitive common theme I would show up
do well in some tests lose literally all
of my work have a very stern
parent-teacher conference promise to be
better and nothing would really change
so let’s jump up the timeline again it’s
8th grade at this point things weren’t
great at home
mom and I were fighting every day as 13
year olds and their mothers do I think
what is less common is is running away
from home and coming home to find
truancy officers on the couch that’s not
really part of the plan in school things
were equally interesting I supposedly
the budding writer failed my first class
that year what class English eighth
grade was when I realized that for the
first time if I told half-decent jokes
people might like me I realized this
because I was being really really
severely bullied at the time so for any
stand-up comics or stand-up comics to be
in the audience they tell you jump in
feet first face first into comedy just
do it so firmly jumping in was telling a
joke to the very large young man
threatening to give me a swirly for
those of you who do not know what it’s
whirly is you are blessed it is a very
personal intimate introduction to your
school’s plumbing system so you know I
found my comedic voice and narrowly
avoided finding myself face-first in a
toilet and I loved it the comedy not the
toilet but yeah between my latest so
that became the the new the new plan the
new goal was to be a stand-up comic and
between you know those career
aspirations and my failing report cards
you can imagine that my mom was thrilled
eighth grade was the first year she
threatened to ship me off to India to
live with my dad which as you will soon
come to discover really does happen
that’s not just a threat but at the time
it felt a little excessive so I got my
newfound friends to tape together some
a3 sized sheets of paper and scroll
please don’t make too char move came
home and I was like take that mom
so I got off easy that year and a couple
years a couple years later it’s a
sophomore year of high school which is
really when any semblance of a plan fell
apart school somehow had managed to
still yet get worse I was struggling to
pass any of my classes
when I went when I didn’t i divided my
time between in-school suspension and
school detention and Saturday school and
the remainder of my time I spent doing
something I really loved I spent my time
playing music I was playing piano every
day in the school often at times when
I’m supposed to be in the class and and
that became my escape music became my
escape I would stop taking the bus home
to stay two hours every day with the
best friend and and practice Juilliard
the Juilliard School became my new pipe
dream unfortunately along the way I
ended up failing all my classes which
will throw a wrench in things so one day
I woke up to find my dad at the door he
lives overseas in India so that was when
I knew I was in trouble but I was
expecting like you’re grounded
get it together time it turns out that
parents do not fly 7,000 miles across
the world to ground you so we went out
to coffee went out to Caribou and we
were all sitting there and everybody was
being painfully silent and painfully
nice and so finally I asked what boats
what’s the deal here and so in response
my dad pulled out an itinerary put it on
the table and just slid it it was really
smooth just slid it across the table and
there’s like you’re going so let me tell
you I’ve never been back to Caribou
since but that was that was a plan when
I was I was going and when I left the
country the highest grade I had this is
not an exaggeration the highest grade I
had was a d-minus in Spanish – and ten
FS I can’t make that up and so I needed
to go for so many reasons I needed to go
and I often asked myself why how did it
get to this how did this happen and part
of it I would later come to learn is
that I was expressing early stage March
markers for ADHD my inability to stay
focused a tendency to hyper focus often
on bridges
inability to sit still an organizational
nightmare a lot of it made sense a lot
of it made a lot more sense but I don’t
think that was all of it for my psych
majors in the crowd you’ll be familiar
with the concept of cognitive dissonance
it’s the idea that when you’re faced
with a set of circumstances that make
you uncomfortable you can do a couple of
things you can deny them outright you
can change your beliefs and expectations
or you can change your circumstances and
I felt a sense of helplessness at my
failure is and the fact that I thought I
couldn’t change them so I got
comfortable I rationalized I said I
didn’t really care I justified it
there’s a a Saabs parable I believe it’s
a fox that’s trying to eat a bunch of
grapes on a grape vine I’m not entirely
sure why Aesop’s parables include a
vegan Fox but we’ll let that slide so
the Fox is trying to get the grapes
they’re way too high and so it convinces
itself it’s not worth it I don’t need it
they’re probably sour anyway and I think
people are like that we are dangerously
good at talking ourselves out of the
things that we want and the things that
we deserve and that is one of the single
most dangerous ways to kill your dreams
you say I don’t want this I don’t need
this I can’t ask for this and it works
and so that’s what I did and then I got
to India India was a clean slate in
every sense of the word
literally it was a new continent a new
country a new city a new school a new
family a new home so that’s about the
fresh start you get let’s see the school
they had just opened and they
desperately needed students so their big
pitch to me was look it’s going to be
you and all girls in the grade so I was
sold what they did not tell me was that
the entire grade was going to be nine
kids so I came from a class of 900 and I
got there and absolutely will where’s
the rest of the grade and they said well
welcome this is the rest of the grade I
said oh so that was a change if you ever
want an example of creative chaos across
the street in New Delhi you will see
diversity and disparity and insanity in
two lanes you will see people being
chauffeured to and from private schools
in Bentley’s you will
see vehicles that are definitely not
legal to be on the road you will hear
curse words in 10 different languages
you will see that traffic rules and
pedestrians rights are guidelines but
despite this seemingly insane system it
works India worked for me and I think
it’s so much more than this Nat Geo
Slumdog Millionaire exotic world it is
really much deeper than that and much
more meaningful and for me it was a
fresh lease on life I got a chance to
reconnect with my father and my family I
got a chance to travel the country I was
born in and see the Himalayas in the Taj
Mahal I got a chance to hear the Dalai
Lama speak and I think for the first
time in years I enjoyed going to school
again I found teachers and mentors and
educators who changed the way I looked
at subjects and the way I looked at
school and I found that in the process
of all this I dropped this need this
facade this cynical of an edgy teen and
I just liked it I enjoyed it again and
so when the end-of-term examinations
came around for the first time in half a
decade I was the top of my class and I
remember getting that call and running
around the house screaming at the top of
my lungs out of joy you know nothing
else but and everyone was looking at me
like are you really alright but I think
success is like that it is exhilarating
it is addictive it will keep you coming
back time and again and so a couple
years later I did it again and then I
thought about four seriously for the
first time applying to school going to
college so I did the first school to
reject me was this one
and eventually I ended up getting into
Berkeley which was surreal for me I you
have to understand a few years ago I was
planning to drop out and to go from that
to this kind of success the top of the
class was going going to Cal was
life-changing it felt unbelievable and
so my first two years in California were
a dream there was a new plan I was
working in a legal clinic I was getting
ready to run for student government I
was checking all these neat little boxes
in my plan to go be a star lawyer and
things are great
you know until until they weren’t
clinical depression has a few key
warning signs if you find that you are
missing calls from your friends and
family if you find that you’re sleeping
for 35 hours at a stretch if you find
that you are drunk before 11:00 a.m. on
a Monday morning and it’s not unofficial
weekend think about it and so for me I
realized it it was that uh it was at a
friend’s birthday party she had just
turned 21 at her apartment and she put
up signs you know go left four shots go
right four beers go straight to find out
what’s in the jungle juice uh and I
think in that moment I realized I would
rather just go home and die instead and
that was a year ago and in the year I’ve
taken a much-needed yeah I much needed
time off I have opened up to my friends
and family about what’s been going on
and gotten better which is a daily
process I found new ways to learn and
think and grow and give back I have
worked retail which has taught me that I
really don’t know how to fold clothes as
well as I would like you know I’ve
gotten the chance to write yet paid for
I think most importantly and most
meaningful has been the chance to work
with students who are a lot like me
students who have ADHD who have comorbid
conditions who are struggling in many of
the same ways that I did and so I’ve
seen a lot of backpacks that look like
black holes and a lot of transcripts
with efforts on them but it has been
empowering the chance to help people
take control of their education and not
be a victim to their circumstances and
so today I’m getting ready to go back to
school and graduate but despite all of
this despite having this neat cute
little plan there’s one thing we’ve
learned
plans change you can make plan after
plan after plan and life will still
happen
so what then I mean I don’t think it
stops it oh no life happens what do we
do there there’s a point in every system
it’s known as the edge of chaos it is
the point between total order and total
disorder between complete chaos and
neurotically planned existence and don’t
get me wrong planning is a life skill
it’s just look in every group there’s
one friend who is like excessive on
planning like you knew every class you
are taking 2 years before you got into
college if you cannot think of someone
it’s because it’s you I think equally
important is accepting that plans change
and so the edge of chaos there’s this
idea that right in the middle of chaos
and order pretty cool things happen
systems produce their most reactive and
productive outputs organisms adapts to
be at their most productive and again
people are like that there’s a point
where you find a balance between
internal external chaos between all the
plans and all the plans that haven’t
worked out and at that point great
things happen you are capable of
creative dynamic change and you owe it
to yourself to go and find it now as
with anything that matters that’s easier
said than done it can be a little hard
to see the beauty in chaos theory when
you’re broke when you’re behind on rent
when you’re behind in your classes when
you can’t get access to health care when
you can’t get access to advisors that’s
very real that’s an issue that cannot be
denied and to do so I think would be
disingenuous but I think despite that
struggle it can be done and you should
do it and I’m not here to pitch a
self-help guide or sell my next
five-step program I mean I think the
point is that it’s doable
and the commonality is it’s a lot of
self-interest a lot of introspection and
a lot of self-discovery and a ton of
support and in that regard I’ve been
phenomenally lucky I’ve always had
people in my corner from day one whether
they are parents whether they are
friends whether they are mentor
is whether their peers people have put
faith in me before I’ve been willing to
put faith in myself and that has made a
world of difference but I realized that
that’s that’s why I’m on this stage
that’s why I’m around that’s why I’m
alive and not everyone is that lucky not
everyone has that level of support
some people are disenfranchised or just
discriminated against and some people
just lack that level of support that
I’ve been so privileged to have and I
think today I mean I have a decent pair
of dimples and a microphone and a stage
that’s it I have a platform and I think
with that all I want to say is this
wherever you are on this spectrum of
balance of chaos of finding yourself and
losing yourself if you can be a support
to someone a friend a colleague up here
do it it’ll make a world of difference
do it without a doubt and I think in
doing so you empower both yourself and
the people around you to embrace this
chaos that is inherent to life the fact
that plans change the fact that life
happens and in doing so that gives you
the power to find your own sense of
balance and meaning thank you
[Applause]
you
[Music]
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