okay so I want you all to do something I
know audience participation
I want you all smile now I don’t want
you guys to give me that awful fake
smile that you gave when your parents
dragged you to one of those giant family
reunions and you literally no nobody
there oh just your nice natural smile
now see I love smiling and I love the
idea of making people happy so if you
guys didn’t know I’m a very optimistic
thinker I always tried to make a good
effort to look on the bright side and as
cliche as that sounds it really works
however in the past I’ve heard a lot of
stereotypes about positive thinkers for
instance people think I could be a
little too positive they think that I
only see the good in people and then
those people take advantage of me
emotionally because I only see the good
in them other people also think that
because I’m so positive I don’t know
what it’s like to be sad or that I’ve
never suffered any tragedy well I’m here
to tell you that both those things are
false and I’m not going to show you
through statistics but I’ll show you
my grandmother hazel lived in Canada so
we didn’t get to see her very often
she was also getting older she had
Parkinson’s so it was really hard for
her to come visit us however she always
loved to hear me sing so whenever we did
visit her she would always get to see
recordings of me singing the national
anthem here at school or participating
in the winter concert or singing at my
church in my freshman year I got into my
very first musical and I was so excited
I couldn’t wait to go to Canada and to
show her a recording of me singing my
very own song but on January 4th about a
month before the show she died I was
devastated she meant so much to me and
the idea that she was no longer here was
so hard to accept and I actually
remember a story I remember my mom when
when she told me that she had died
she what she didn’t cried even days
after she didn’t seem upset and one day
I remember asking her pretty frustrated
how could you not be upset over the
death of your own mom I mean I haven’t
seen you cry or anything since and she
said sweetheart to me
my mom died many years ago and that got
me thinking the grandmother I remember
was a woman who had quite a few health
issues she had dementia and she was
wheelchair-bound and she spent the last
few years of her life in a nursing home
but the mom that she remembers would
laugh and and would sing and raised six
children no here we have my dog Sabina
my family had her for about ten years
and it was always so amazing to walk
after to walk inside your house after a
really long stressful day at school and
to hear her paws scratch against the
kitchen floor she ran to come greet us
but it may have last year she developed
cancer and she stopped eating she had
trouble walking and we decided to put
her down well I was here at school and
it was so hard to know that well I was
here working I was never gonna see her
again
so you’re probably thinking how could
someone possibly stay on the bright side
of situations like these and I’ll admit
to you it was not easy sometimes things
happen in our life that really weigh us
down but what really helped me was my
friends they were always by my side and
they would let me cry to them and they
would listen to my thoughts and then I
realized that getting the chance to talk
about these situations it made me see
that even though both these loved ones
were gone and I was gonna miss them
terribly that they should actually be
happy because neither of them were
suffering anymore so when we’re
suffering from a tragedy whether it be a
death or just a really bad situation I
like to think you can go down to
different pods what is the path of
coping in some dangerous ways ways that
can be as simple as just not talking
about your feelings to your loved ones
because then you might end up going even
more dangerously down that path coping
mechanisms like alcohol and drugs but
the simple
the whole situation away but I mean
let’s be honest it’ll only do that for
so little time until you’re feeling
awful inside again or you can go down
another path more positive path one that
leads to talking out your problems with
your loved ones or crying with them or
alone and to me this path is more
effective because when you actually talk
to people about your problems you may
end up finding out that they understand
your problem more than you think and
then that way you can focus more on
finding that feeling of optimism we’re
not just an hour or so but for a lot
longer tragedy happens to all of us it’s
a simple fact but what matters it’s not
necessarily the situation or the tragedy
itself but how you cope with it
now the other stereotype I mentioned
earlier was how I only see the good in
people I mean it’s true that I tried to
see the good in others I always try to
be a good friend and I’ll always offer
my help to somebody
regardless of the history we’ve had but
I have been hurt and that’s something
that’s really difficult for me how to
stay you know positive during a social
situation but what actually helped was
the knowledge that the situation will
pass and that with every one person
who’s hurting you there’s probably 10 or
more people out there who love you and
who care about you and who will defend
you and who will be there for you now if
you’re ever stuck in a situation I don’t
always recommend that you go to somebody
who isn’t part of the problem because
then that person might end up getting
involved in a problem they don’t even
know the details about show of hands how
many people has that happened to but
what I recommend is if you actually go
to the person involved in the situation
you might end up finding out that it was
all a misunderstanding or that they’re
actually really sorry for what they said
or did but they don’t have the courage
to come to you I’ve actually used the
strategy multiple times I’ve gone to
people who have hurt me or who I may
have hurt and we’ve made up and I’ll
admit to you the strategy does not
always work and that’s okay because we
can only do so much so the other thing I
came to
was that when your positive to yourself
it doesn’t doesn’t just benefit you it
benefits others this February I was
turning 17 and as exciting as that was I
knew that I had to get up really early
in the morning to take a driving test
and I remember constantly counting down
the days as my emotions would switch
from being super excited and her
slightly nervous to slightly excited and
super nervous and of course the day came
and I made a small mistake something
that on the real Road would not have
mattered but to the DMV was bad enough
to fail me and I remember crying for
probably about two to three hours on my
own birthday thinking how stupid I was
how I should never have made that
mistake and everybody else did I knew
had passed on their first try and then
something amazing happened that day so I
was alone at home feeling really down
and of course I texted a bunch of my
friends telling them what had happened
and then within the hour
my doorbell rang and they were at my
doorstep and they came to surprise me
and we ended up getting to hang out and
we celebrated me turning 17 and after
they left I realized something not just
specifically with those friends but of
course with my other friends I treat
with major respect and I care for them
and they know that whenever they need me
I will drop anything and everything to
go and help them and I will not stop
helping them until I make them feel
better and until they’re smiling and
then it hit me that day those friends
saw that I was in need of friendship in
need of positivity and not got me
thinking when you’re positive to
yourself if you ever decide to be more
positive to yourself always keep in mind
that that positive that positive energy
might rub off on others and people will
acknowledge that and they will
appreciate it and then when you’re the
one that’s in need of help or just
friendship
maybe they’ll return the favor now I
don’t have statistics of course I’m not
going to tell you that waking up on the
right side of the bed every day is going
to add 5x to
in your life but I do have my
personality and the way I am and I knew
from a really young age that positivity
was always going to be a part of me and
especially if some of you out there are
suffering from issues that aren’t your
fault or that you just can’t control
this is the strategy that I can
guarantee to you has helped me and can
definitely help you and do not worry I
am not trying to change you I’m just a
girl who wants to make the world smile thank you
know audience participation
I want you all smile now I don’t want
you guys to give me that awful fake
smile that you gave when your parents
dragged you to one of those giant family
reunions and you literally no nobody
there oh just your nice natural smile
now see I love smiling and I love the
idea of making people happy so if you
guys didn’t know I’m a very optimistic
thinker I always tried to make a good
effort to look on the bright side and as
cliche as that sounds it really works
however in the past I’ve heard a lot of
stereotypes about positive thinkers for
instance people think I could be a
little too positive they think that I
only see the good in people and then
those people take advantage of me
emotionally because I only see the good
in them other people also think that
because I’m so positive I don’t know
what it’s like to be sad or that I’ve
never suffered any tragedy well I’m here
to tell you that both those things are
false and I’m not going to show you
through statistics but I’ll show you
my grandmother hazel lived in Canada so
we didn’t get to see her very often
she was also getting older she had
Parkinson’s so it was really hard for
her to come visit us however she always
loved to hear me sing so whenever we did
visit her she would always get to see
recordings of me singing the national
anthem here at school or participating
in the winter concert or singing at my
church in my freshman year I got into my
very first musical and I was so excited
I couldn’t wait to go to Canada and to
show her a recording of me singing my
very own song but on January 4th about a
month before the show she died I was
devastated she meant so much to me and
the idea that she was no longer here was
so hard to accept and I actually
remember a story I remember my mom when
when she told me that she had died
she what she didn’t cried even days
after she didn’t seem upset and one day
I remember asking her pretty frustrated
how could you not be upset over the
death of your own mom I mean I haven’t
seen you cry or anything since and she
said sweetheart to me
my mom died many years ago and that got
me thinking the grandmother I remember
was a woman who had quite a few health
issues she had dementia and she was
wheelchair-bound and she spent the last
few years of her life in a nursing home
but the mom that she remembers would
laugh and and would sing and raised six
children no here we have my dog Sabina
my family had her for about ten years
and it was always so amazing to walk
after to walk inside your house after a
really long stressful day at school and
to hear her paws scratch against the
kitchen floor she ran to come greet us
but it may have last year she developed
cancer and she stopped eating she had
trouble walking and we decided to put
her down well I was here at school and
it was so hard to know that well I was
here working I was never gonna see her
again
so you’re probably thinking how could
someone possibly stay on the bright side
of situations like these and I’ll admit
to you it was not easy sometimes things
happen in our life that really weigh us
down but what really helped me was my
friends they were always by my side and
they would let me cry to them and they
would listen to my thoughts and then I
realized that getting the chance to talk
about these situations it made me see
that even though both these loved ones
were gone and I was gonna miss them
terribly that they should actually be
happy because neither of them were
suffering anymore so when we’re
suffering from a tragedy whether it be a
death or just a really bad situation I
like to think you can go down to
different pods what is the path of
coping in some dangerous ways ways that
can be as simple as just not talking
about your feelings to your loved ones
because then you might end up going even
more dangerously down that path coping
mechanisms like alcohol and drugs but
the simple
the whole situation away but I mean
let’s be honest it’ll only do that for
so little time until you’re feeling
awful inside again or you can go down
another path more positive path one that
leads to talking out your problems with
your loved ones or crying with them or
alone and to me this path is more
effective because when you actually talk
to people about your problems you may
end up finding out that they understand
your problem more than you think and
then that way you can focus more on
finding that feeling of optimism we’re
not just an hour or so but for a lot
longer tragedy happens to all of us it’s
a simple fact but what matters it’s not
necessarily the situation or the tragedy
itself but how you cope with it
now the other stereotype I mentioned
earlier was how I only see the good in
people I mean it’s true that I tried to
see the good in others I always try to
be a good friend and I’ll always offer
my help to somebody
regardless of the history we’ve had but
I have been hurt and that’s something
that’s really difficult for me how to
stay you know positive during a social
situation but what actually helped was
the knowledge that the situation will
pass and that with every one person
who’s hurting you there’s probably 10 or
more people out there who love you and
who care about you and who will defend
you and who will be there for you now if
you’re ever stuck in a situation I don’t
always recommend that you go to somebody
who isn’t part of the problem because
then that person might end up getting
involved in a problem they don’t even
know the details about show of hands how
many people has that happened to but
what I recommend is if you actually go
to the person involved in the situation
you might end up finding out that it was
all a misunderstanding or that they’re
actually really sorry for what they said
or did but they don’t have the courage
to come to you I’ve actually used the
strategy multiple times I’ve gone to
people who have hurt me or who I may
have hurt and we’ve made up and I’ll
admit to you the strategy does not
always work and that’s okay because we
can only do so much so the other thing I
came to
was that when your positive to yourself
it doesn’t doesn’t just benefit you it
benefits others this February I was
turning 17 and as exciting as that was I
knew that I had to get up really early
in the morning to take a driving test
and I remember constantly counting down
the days as my emotions would switch
from being super excited and her
slightly nervous to slightly excited and
super nervous and of course the day came
and I made a small mistake something
that on the real Road would not have
mattered but to the DMV was bad enough
to fail me and I remember crying for
probably about two to three hours on my
own birthday thinking how stupid I was
how I should never have made that
mistake and everybody else did I knew
had passed on their first try and then
something amazing happened that day so I
was alone at home feeling really down
and of course I texted a bunch of my
friends telling them what had happened
and then within the hour
my doorbell rang and they were at my
doorstep and they came to surprise me
and we ended up getting to hang out and
we celebrated me turning 17 and after
they left I realized something not just
specifically with those friends but of
course with my other friends I treat
with major respect and I care for them
and they know that whenever they need me
I will drop anything and everything to
go and help them and I will not stop
helping them until I make them feel
better and until they’re smiling and
then it hit me that day those friends
saw that I was in need of friendship in
need of positivity and not got me
thinking when you’re positive to
yourself if you ever decide to be more
positive to yourself always keep in mind
that that positive that positive energy
might rub off on others and people will
acknowledge that and they will
appreciate it and then when you’re the
one that’s in need of help or just
friendship
maybe they’ll return the favor now I
don’t have statistics of course I’m not
going to tell you that waking up on the
right side of the bed every day is going
to add 5x to
in your life but I do have my
personality and the way I am and I knew
from a really young age that positivity
was always going to be a part of me and
especially if some of you out there are
suffering from issues that aren’t your
fault or that you just can’t control
this is the strategy that I can
guarantee to you has helped me and can
definitely help you and do not worry I
am not trying to change you I’m just a
girl who wants to make the world smile thank you
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