Your life is in your hand

Lizzie Velasquez | TEDxAustinWomen

People easily feel disappointed, sad and angry when things go not go as they expect. Then when our yearnings are not met, we easily feel not loved or not worthy. But is it really true?

Lizzie Velasquez was born with genetic illness which is so rare that nobody knows how it happens. When lots of people are trying all different kinds of methods to lose weight, she can eat as much as she can and never gain weight. However, this kind of rare disease caused her more harm than benefits until the day she decided to turn her life around and change her attitudes as well as believes about her existence.

Ask ourselves as a parent what we would do when our children are born and failing to meeting our expectations. Lots of parents grieve. That is a normal reaction but it will not help the child to grow and blossom. Lizzie’s parents gave us an excellent role model as how parents’ attitudes can make their children's lives different. They told Lizzie that not to let her syndrome defines who she is and encouraged her to be herself when Lizzie came home asking them why schools kids did not like her.  

Another heartbreaking experience that Lizzie had was that her video was put up in the internet by someone out of her knowledge and viewed by over 4 million people. She then was voted as the world ugliest woman. There were tones of nasty comments which were even hard to bear. Then she realized that she felt sad because she let the others to define her by her appearance. But she is more than that. She has a sense of humor and caring heart. She decided not to let those people who call her monster to define her. She started to use those negativity to motive herself.

Now, her speech How do you define yourself? motivates lots of people in despair by this beautiful message:“Your life is put in your hand. You are the one who decides what defines you.”It is just like a phrase inspiring me also: You are in charge of your happiness and your emotions. You might not be able to change the reality but you can change how you view it.