good morning everybody
now I am going to take you on an
advanced research this morning and
search for acceptance a search for inner
peace a search for strength and a search
for a hope now that wrote we have to go
on will be a rocky road we have to enter
the dark caves confront danger but let’s
just go on the journey now journey of a
thousand miles begins with a single step
for me that journey really lies in
refining my identity or it’s actually
it’s better to say to find a new version
of my own true identity to tell you the
truth I wanted to go on this journey for
a very long time today sitting here in
front of you it feels like I’m finally
taking that first most difficult step so
thank you for being here and thank you
for helping me taking that first
difficult step to speak with the words
of Joseph Campbell the k if you fear to
enter holds the treasure you seek Joseph
Campbell studied fairy tales and
modalities from all over the world and
he discovered a pattern a pattern that
he called the hero’s journey a hero l
Aaron Dorothy Harry Potter is called to
adventure and eventually returns a new
reborn now but before we can find the
treasure before we have found the keys
to
open the door to that treasure we need
to slay some dragons inside of us and I
believe that after that the treasure
will then be able to find for every
human being
consists of the feelings of happiness
gratitude and love for oneself in
Patrick Solomon’s film finding Joe the
hero’s journey is shown to be relevant
Joseph Campbell’s ideas are shown to be
relevant for me and also for you we all
can be an Aladdin or Harry Potter
because we must get rid of the life with
plans in order to have that life waiting
for us and this is why Joseph Campbell’s
ideas will be a recurrent theme in this
talk but before elaborating on my
personal hero’s journey
let me first introduce myself I was born
in 1977 in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia but
I grew up in the Netherlands being half
that half Malaysian the city of
Groningen is my hometown I I spent all
my education there and my career and I
always loved to travel during my high
school and also during university
education I spent an exchange here in
the US and afterwards also during
University education went on to an
internship in Jakarta Indonesia and this
is why I always pictured myself working
abroad or working in the international
environment ago I have reached I now
work after having jumped from job to job
with with a lot of joy at the secretary
of economics and business university of
groningen as a communications officer in
2009 seven years ago my life
tremendously due to the diagnosis
multiple sclerosis this diagnosis
knocked me off my feet in every possible
way I tried to keep going on like
nothing happens but I exhausted myself
by doing so and still today I keep
exhausting myself but not wanting to
accept over the years I tried to take
many practical steps I go to yoga
meditation class three times a week I
try to eat healthy see many friends be
optimistic but have I ever tried to go
and that other journey the long journey
of acceptance that journey inside no I
haven’t because I have always feared it
I buried my head in the sand like an
ostrich for a very long time the first
couple of years after MS entered my life
I was still able to work full time while
symptoms grew worse and now I made some
changes and work part-time also the
first couple of years I I was still able
to run but I remember the day very
clearly that my running buddy and friend
had to drag me home not even halfway
down the route we normally ran because
my legs simply refused going out to
parties going to festivals shopping
downtown I kept doing this the way I
used to do without taking any
precautions like an ostrich today I sit
in front of you with a walking stick not
able to walk more than 200 meters pains
going through my spinal cord
continuously a fear for losing my
balance very weak muscles I actually I
feel like having to do a rope dance I
feel like this every day a rope dance
because I’m so unsteady
so afraid for losing two for losing my
balance physically but also mentally I
so yes seven years ago crisis entered my
life but from today on I will try and
face that crisis like Chinese do now did
you know that the Chinese word for
crisis consists of two characters the
first meaning danger the second meaning
opportunity now the opportunity for me
lies in that hero’s journey and but
before continuing on that hero’s journey
let me first take you back to 2009 and
tell you a bit more about that danger
and how it started so these seven years
ago it was a beautiful day that
particularly day in June when everything
changed my husband had just asked me to
marry him earlier that year and I
couldn’t be happier I left our house
dancing and hopping the street on my way
to the grocery store just around the
corner everything was fine very good
just a few blocks down the road I
suddenly sank to my right leg and I
could hardly balance myself again and I
kept dragging that right leg behind me
further on my way to the grocery store
this is how it all began we have to go
to the hospital they need to take an MRI
scan few days later we have to go back
for the results they tell us it’s
serious they tell they tell us there’s
no doubt the diagnosis multiple
sclerosis I cannot think to I cannot
listen to any other words the doctor
says I fall and fall and keep falling
and I just don’t hear anything
anymore but then I pull myself together
and I say to myself let’s continue the
looking back at this period in my life I
cannot think of anything more
contradictory then that is if big dark
sorry
so yes M s now please allow me to
multiple sclerosis is a chronic disease
of the central nervous system the
multiple sclerosis it literally means
many scars the scars form because the
body’s own immune system attacks and
destroys million and million is the
protective coating covering the nerve
fibers and the loss of myelin causes an
interruption in the ability of the nerve
to conduct electrical impulses to and
from the brain so this this is often
compared to power outage in an
electrical wire it causes a lot of
certain symptoms like extreme fatigue
loss of mobility loss of strength weak
limbs pains in the spinal cord
unsteadiness a lot of symptoms the
movements are very much interrupted or
you can disappear completely there are
many forms or more forms these are the
three main forms of multiple sclerosis
my form at the moment the secondary
progressive MS I started off with
relapsing remitting ms and it has
transformed into secondary progressive
which means symptoms growers gradually
in the net
learns the chance if somebody gets MS is
one out of a thousand people we are in
this theater with around 500 people so
and there might be somebody else with MS
here
but statistically in a theater has a
person with FMS so let me be that has a
person of course that’s not possible but
this is where I wanna draw a line this
is me having MS this is me full of
opportunities but of course all of me
has MS and all of me has opportunities
but this is how it feels there’s a war
going on inside of me there’s big danger
there are also opportunities there’s a
crisis the war doesn’t seem to end and
to go back to that film of patrick
patrick solomon’s film finding the oh
that film i talked about in the
beginning slaying the dragon really
means to come to terms with your inner
self my goal is to become whole again to
end that war to reunite these two parts
of me now i already talked a lot about
this danger let me now talk more about
the opportunity where the heroes the
hero’s journey continues the hero’s
journey starts off with the call to
adventure like mine started off with a
call from ted thank you and then joseph
campbell’s studies into the mentalities
it appears that heroes often refuse to
go on a journey refuse to call like i
did for seven years out of fear and
denial fear is my dragon but what is it
i am so afraid of it is that loss of
mobility that loss that complete loss of
roll over my body and also over my mind
it’s very frightening feeling so
vulnerable both physically and mentally
having to say goodbye to my old life and
it’s it’s very frightening how bad the
disabilities will become how fast will
it go what will happen yeah I’m very
frightened and to tell you the truth
it’s it’s frightening as hell and can be
very overwhelming but luckily as CEO
Steve Campbell says opportunities to
find deeper powers within ourselves come
when life seems most challenging the
challenge is to find that new person see
this is me fearful having a drop down in
social relations embarrassed hating
myself hating a mess for not dealing
properly with it this is what I want to
be fearless eager to learn opening up
eager to make new contacts maintaining
old contacts contacts love life love
myself how am I going to find that
person well there are opportunities for
me the first one it’s travelling because
I really believe that by traveling to
foreign countries I can open up feel
powerful
make new contacts and explore explore
the world of course and also of course
if I continue traveling I better get rid
of those envies jealousies unforgiveness
selfishness and fierce
well actually last summer I already
started traveling again me and my
husband went on an adventurous road trip
to California we first visited some good
friends in Pasadena California
and we continued road tripping and it
was fun and yes it was with the wheels
here so what I’ll keep on traveling
second opportunity following the
overcoming multiple sclerosis program
developed by Professor the Australian
professor George yelenic now Georgie le
Mac developed this program based on a
comprehensive research and it has shown
to improve the life of in the quality of
life of many people living with MS this
program of coming multiple sclerosis
promotes a diet and lifestyle management
change and I want to pick it up again
and be disciplined and be patient I
actually I flew to Australia to join a
retreat about this and it was so
inspiring and I regained hope and
confidence for the future the program is
it is based comes down to three pillars
meditation exercise and healthy diet on
a daily basis I urge everybody who knows
somebody with MS or with MS to go on to
this website and or to recharge the next
book because there’s really a chance to
overcome so yes there’s traveling
there’s a recovery program there are
opportunities but most importantly
sharing my story I definitely believe
that with sharing my story I made a big
step towards acceptance from this dead
answered that call to adventure I will
face my fears as I have done today now
everybody is the hero
of his or her own life we are all born
heroes so what I want to say to you is
answer that call to adventure go into
that dark cave and keep looking keep
looking for the treasure do not give up
no matter how dark it gets no matter how
long it takes no matter how difficult it
is keep looking
find the treasure and bring it back
bring back you thank you
[Applause] [Music]
Be First to Comment