Ted talks event

It takes courage to find inner strength and overcome ones fears.
It takes courage hurdle over the insecurities we have and become stronger from our experiences.

Today I was reminded of how important courage is thanks to two women who were courageous to share their stories to the world through Tedtalks.The USA pavilion hosted a little gathering for TEDx Shanghai which is the Shanghai edition for Ted talks. Ted talks can be found online, streamed for free because their goals is all about promoting "ideas worth sharing."
The first video we watched together was by Aimee Mullins, the second was Tedx: Taipei with Feng Yu Shei.




What struck a chord with me was that these videos shared a story that talked about overcoming fear, adversity but also spreading the message of finding our inner strength from our setbacks, dare to be different from the standard, overcoming or ignoring other people's perceptions to pursue what we love, what we are passionate about. And by empowering ourselves, will lead us to what Aimee Mullins states as, " to realize our full potential of our humanity that makes us beautiful."
As I reflect on these two women who were brave enough to share their stories to the world, I look at my life and noticed that fear has overwhelmed me. It's hard to remind to overcome fear when it can hold us back, when it's the easy way out of situations. When I carefully think about the word courage, there are so many instances in my life where I recall I have been so afraid that I held myself back from fear of embarrassment and rejection. Expressing disapproval with my parents, believing in myself, being happy for myself, making new friends, sharing secrets with friends, telling a boy "I love you", getting back on my road bike after a flying off, or trying out something new. How did I become so afraid of courage? What do I have to be afraid of? Something is censoring my natural curiosity, hindering me from taking another step.

But, I have to remember that courage will always outweigh fear. courage will always be stronger than fear. Courage propels us forward rather than holding us back. I have to constantly remind myself of this. There are always moments in life nearly every day that releases our inner strengths to be better, braver and stronger. I'll always reflect on those examples; Studying abroad, speaking languages, dancing tango, cooking a meal for my friends, eating scorpion. Though there are moments in my life that outweigh those fears and I must remind myself that courage is always stronger than fear, but even better.

Then, I think of my family and realize that hey if they were courageous immigrate to the United States to start all over then what is their to fear?
It took courage for them to start a new life
to learn a new language
to overcome obstacles
to ask questions
to try and raise a family
to believe that moving to a completely strange place would be better for their kids

No one lacks courage, that's just false.
all it takes is to empower yourself, to propel and not let anything get you down along the away.