I'm really, really, really excited to be here. I kind of want to tell you a little bit more of the - I don't want to say basics - because we really don't know anything about my syndrome. I was born with this very rare syndrome, that only two other people in the world including myself, that we know of, have. Basically what this syndrome causes, is that I cannot gain weight. Yes, it does sound as good as it is. (Laughter) I could eat absolutely whatever I want, whenever I want and I won't really gain any weight. I'm going to be 25 in March, and I've never weighed over about 64 pounds in my entire life. When I was in college, I hid - well, I didn't 'hide' it, everyone knew it was there - but it was a giant tub of Twinkies, donuts, chips, Skittles, and my roommate would say, "I could hear you at 12:30 am, reaching under your bed to get food." But I'm like, "You know what? It's alright, I can do these things!" Because there are benefits to this syndrome. There are benefits to not being able to gain weight. There are benefits to being visually impaired. There are benefits to being kind of really small. A lot of people think, "Lizzie, how in the world are you saying there are benefits when you can only see out of one eye?" Well, let me tell you what the benefits are because they are great. I wear contacts--conTACT. Half-off conTACTS. (Laughter) When I wear my reading glasses: half-off prescription. If somebody is annoying me, being rude: Stand on my right side. (Laughter) It's like you're not even there. I don't even know you're standing there. Right now, if I stand like this, I have no clue that there's this whole side of the room. Also, being small, I am very willing to volunteer myself to go to Weight Watchers or to some gym, and say, "Hi, I'm Lizzie. I will be your poster child. Put my face on whatever you need, and I will say, 'Hi! I used this program. Look how well it worked.'" (Laughter) Even though there are amazing things that have come from this syndrome, there are also things that have been very, very difficult, as you can imagine. Growing up, I was raised 150% normally. I was my parents' first child. And when I was born, the doctors told my mom, "Your daughter has no amniotic fluid around her. At all." So when I was born, it was a miracle that I came out screaming. The doctors told my parents, "We just want to warn you: Expect your daughter to never be able to talk, walk, crawl, think, or do anything by herself." Now, as first-time parents, you would think that my parents would say, "Oh no. Why? Why are we getting our first child with all these unknown problems?" But that's not what they did. The first thing they told the doctor was, "We want to see her, and we are going to take her home and love her, and raise her to the best of our abilities." And that's what they did. I credit pretty much everything that I've done in my life to my parents. My dad is here with me today, and my mom is at home watching. Hi mom! (Laughter) She's recovering from surgery. She has been the glue that's held our family together, and she's given me the strength to see that she's going through so much, but she has this fighting spirit that she's instilled in me, so that I have proudly been able to stand in front of people and say, "You know what? I've had a really difficult life. But that's okay." That's okay. Things have been scary, things have been tough. One of the biggest things that I had to deal with growing up was something I'm pretty sure every single one of us in this room has dealt with before. Can you guess what that is? It starts with a 'B'. Can you guys guess it? Audience: Boys! Lizzie: Boys? (Laughter) Bullying! (Laughter) I know what you all are thinking. (Laughter) Why can't I sit here with them? (Laughter) I had to deal with bullying a lot, but as I said, I was raised very normally, so when I started kindergarten, I had absolutely no idea that I looked different. No clue. I couldn't see that I looked different from other kids. I think of it as a big slap of reality for a five year-old, because I went in to school the first day, decked-out in Pocahontas gear. I was ready! (Laughter) I went in with my backpack that looked like a turtle shell because it was bigger than me, and I walked up to a little girl and smiled at her, and she looked up at me like I was a monster, like I was the scariest thing she had ever seen in her life. My first reaction was, "She is really rude. (Laughter) I am a fun kid, and she's the one missing out. So I'll just go over here and play with blocks. Or boys." (Laughter) (Lizzie laughs) I thought the day would get better, and unfortunately, it didn't. The day got worse and worse. A lot of people just wanted to have absolutely nothing to do with me, and I couldn't understand why. Why? What did I do? I didn't do anything to them! In my mind I was still a really cool kid. I had to go home and ask my parents, "What's wrong with me? What did I do? Why don't they like me?" They sat me down and said, "Lizzie, the only thing different about you is that you're smaller than the other kids. You have this syndrome, but it's not going to define who you are." They said, "Go to school, pick your head up, smile, continue to be yourself, and people will see that you're just like them." And so that's what I did. I want you to think, and ask yourself this in your head, right now: What defines you? Who are you? Is it where you come from? Is it your background? Is it your friends? What is it? What defines who you are as a person? It's taken me a very long time to figure out what defines me. For so long I thought what defined me was my outer appearance. I thought that my little tiny legs, and my little arms, and my little face were ugly. I thought I was disgusting. I hated when I'd wake up in the morning when I was going to middle school, and would be looking in the mirror getting ready, and thinking, "Can I just scrub this syndrome off? It would make my life so much easier if I could just scrub it off. I could look like other kids; I wouldn't have to buy clothes that had Dora the Explorer on them. I wouldn't have to buy stuff that was 'Bedazzled', when I was trying to be like the cool kids." I would wish, and pray, and hope, and do whatever I could so I would wake up in the morning and be different, and I wouldn't have to deal with these struggles. It's what I wanted every single day, and every single day I was disappointed. I have an amazing support system around me, who never pity me, who are there to pick me up if I'm sad, who are there to laugh with me during the good times, and they taught me that, even though I have this syndrome, even though things are hard, I can't let that define me. My life was put into my hands, just like your lives are put into yours. You are the person in the front seat of your car. You are the one who decides whether your car goes down a bad path, or a good path. You are the one who decides what defines you. Now let me tell you: it could be really hard to figure out what defines you, because there were times when I'd get so annoyed and frustrated, and say: "I don't care what defines me!" When I was in high school I found a video, unfortunately, that somebody posted of me, labeling me the world's ugliest woman. There were over four million views to this video; eight seconds long, no sound, thousands of comments; people saying, "Lizzie, please - please - just do the world a favor, put a gun to your head, and kill yourself." Think about that, if people told you that, if strangers told you this. I cried my eyes out of course, and I was ready to fight back and something kind of clicked in my head, and I thought, "I'm just going to leave it alone." I started realizing that my life is in my hands. I could either choose to make this really good, or I could choose to make this really bad. I could be grateful, and open my eyes and realize the things that I do have, and make those the things that define me. I can't see out of one eye, but I can see out of the other. I might get sick a lot, but I have really nice hair. (Laughter) (Audience) You do, you do! Thanks. You guys are like the best little section right here. (Laughter) (Lizzie laughs) You made me lose my train of thought! (Laughter) Okay... where was I? Audience: Your hair! Hair! Hair. Ok, ok, thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you. So I could either choose to be happy or I could choose to be upset with what I have and still kind of complain about it, but then I started realizing: Am I going to let the people who called me a monster define me? Am I going to let the people who said, "Kill it with fire!" define me? No; I'm going to let my goals, and my success, and my accomplishments be the things that define me - Not my outer appearance, not the fact that I'm visually impaired, not the fact that I have this syndrome that nobody knows what it is. So I told myself I'm going to work my butt off and do whatever I could to make myself better, because in my mind, the best way that I could get back at all those people who made fun of me, who teased me, who called me ugly, who called me a monster was to make myself better, and to show them: You know what? Tell me those negative things, I'm going to turn them around, and I'm going to use them as a ladder to climb up to my goals. That's what I did. I told myself that I wanted to be a motivational speaker, I wanted to write a book, graduate college, have my own family, and have my own career. Eight years later, I’m standing in front of you, still doing motivational speaking. First thing, I accomplished it. I wanted to write a book; in a couple of weeks I will be submitting the manuscript for my third book. (Applause) I wanted to graduate college, and I just finished college. (Cheers and applause) I'm getting a degree in Communication Studies from Texas State University in San Marcos, and I have a minor in English. I really, really tried to use real-life experience while I was getting my degree, and my professors were not having it. I wanted to have, lastly, my own family and my own career. The family part is kind of down the line, and my career part, I feel like I'm really doing well with it, considering the fact that when I decided I wanted to be a motivational speaker, I went home, I sat in front of my laptop, went to Google, and typed in: "How to be a motivational speaker." (Laughter) I'm not even joking. I worked my butt off. I used the people who were telling me that I couldn't do this to motivate me. I used their negativity to light my fire to keep going. Use that. Use that. Use that negativity that you have in your life to make yourself better, because I guarantee you - guarantee you - You will win. Now I want to end, with asking you again. I want you to leave here, and ask yourself what defines you. But remember: Brave starts here. Thank you. (Applause)
Stvarno sam uzbuđena što sam ovde. Nekako želim da vam kažem malo više o - ne želim da kažem osnove - jer stvarno ne znamo ništa o mom sindromu. Rođena sam sa ovim retkim sindromom, kojeg ima samo dvoje ljudi na svetu, uključujući mene, koliko je poznato. Suštinski ovaj sindrom dovodi do toga da ne mogu da se ugojim. Da, zvuči dobro, što i jeste. (Smeh) Mogla bih da pojedem apsolutno bilo šta što poželim, kad kod poželim, i neću se uopšte ugojiti. Napuniću 25 godina u martu, i nikad nisam imala više od 29 kilograma u čitavom svom životu. Kad sam bila na fakultetu, krila sam - dobro, nisam krila, svi su znali da je tamo - bila je to ogromna kutija kolačića, krofni, čipsa, bombonica, a moja cimerka bi govorila: „Čula sam te posle ponoći kako posežeš rukom ispod kreveta da uzmeš hranu.“ A ja sam u fazonu: „Znaš šta? U redu je, mogu da radim ove stvari!" Jer postoje prednosti ovog sindroma. Postoje prednosti u nemogućnosti da se ugojite. Postoje prednosti u vezi sa tim da imate oštećenje vida. Postoje prednosti kada ste nekako baš mali. Mnogo ljudi misli: „Lizi, kako za ime sveta govoriš da postoje prednosti kad možeš da vidiš samo na jedno oko?“ E, pa, dozvolite mi da vam kažem šta su prednosti, jer su genijalne. Nosim sočiva - sočivo. Polovinu sočiva. (Smeh) Kad nosim naočare za čitanje, polovina ima dioptriju. Ako mi neko dosađuje, ili je bezobrazan, stanite na moju desnu stranu. (Smeh) Kao da uopšte niste ovde. Čak i ne znam da stojite tamo. Sada, ako stanem ovako, nemam predstavu da postoji ovaj čitav deo prostorije. Takođe, zbog toga što sam mala, voljna sam da se prijavim da odem u emisiju Weight Watchers ili neku teretanu, i da kažem: „Ćao, ja sam Lizi, biću vaše zaštitno lice. (Smeh) Stavite moje lice na šta god hoćete, i ja ću reći: 'Ćao! Koristila sam ovaj program. Pogledajte koliko dobro je delovao.'“ (Smeh) Iako postoje sjajne stvari koje su proistekle iz ovog sindroma, takođe postoje stvari koje su bile veoma, veoma teške, kao što možete da zamislite. Odrastajući, odgajana sam 150% normalno. Bila sam prvo dete svojih roditelja. I kad sam se rodila, doktori su rekli mojoj mami: „Vaša ćerka nema amniotske tečnosti oko sebe. Uopšte.“ Dakle, kad sam rođena, bilo je čudo što sam izašla vrištajući. Doktori su rekli mojim roditeljima: „Samo želimo da vas upozorimo, očekujte da vaše dete ne bude sposobno da priča, šeta, puzi, misli ili radi bilo šta samo.“ Kao novopečeni roditelji, pomislili biste da bi moji roditelji rekli: „O, ne. Zašto? Zašto dobijamo prvo dete sa svim ovim nepoznatim problemima?“ Ali to nije ono što su uradili. Prva stvar koju su rekli doktoru je bila: „Želimo da je vidimo, odvešćemo je kući da je volimo i odgajamo najbolje što možemo.“ To su i uradili. Pripisujem poprilično sve što sam uradila u životu roditeljima. Moj tata je ovde sa mnom danas, a moja mama gleda kod kuće. Ćao, mama! (Smeh) Oporavlja se od operacije. Ona je održala porodicu na okupu, i dala mi je snage da vidim da ona prolazi kroz toliko toga, ali ima taj borilački duh koji je usadila u meni, tako da mogu sa ponosom da stanem ispred ljudi i kažem: „Znate šta? Imala sam zaista težak život. Ali to je u redu.“ U redu je. Stvari su bile strašne, stvari su bile teške. Među najvećim stvarima sa kojima sam se morala suočiti tokom odrastanja je bilo nešto za šta sam sigurna da se svako od nas u ovoj prostoriji suočio. Možete li da pogodite šta je to? Počinje sa 'M'. Možete li da pogodite? Publika: Momci! Lizi: Momci? (Smeh) Maltretiranje! (Smeh) Znam na šta svi vi mislite. (Smeh) Zašto ne mogu da sedim ovde sa njima? (Smeh) Morala sam da se suočavam sa puno nasilja, kao što sam rekla, normalno sam vaspitana, tako da, kad sam krenula u vrtić, apsolutno nisam imala pojma da izgledam drugačije. Ni predstavu nisam imala. Nisam mogla videti da izgledam drugačije od druge dece. Mislim na to kao veliki udarac realnosti za dete od pet godina, jer sam otišla prvi dan u školu, od glave do pete u kostimu Pokahontas. Bila sam spremna! (Smeh) Ušla sam sa mojim rancem, koji je izgledao kao kornjačin oklop jer je bio veći od mene, došetala sam do jedne devojčice i nasmešila sam joj se, a ona me je pogledala kao da sam čudovište, kao da sam bila najstrašnija stvar koju je ikad videla u životu. Moja prva reakcija je bila: „Ona je zaista bezobrazna. (Smeh) Zabavno sam dete, a ona je ta koja propušta. Tako da ću samo da odem tamo i da se igram sa kockama. Ili dečacima." (Smeh) Mislila sam da će se dan poboljšati, a nažalost, nije. Dan je postajao gori i gori. Mnogo ljudi nije htelo apsolutno ništa da radi sa mnom, a nisam mogla da razumem zašto. Zašto? Šta sam uradila? Nisam im ništa uradila! U glavi sam bila još uvek kul dete. Morala sam da odem kući, i pitam roditelje: „Šta nije u redu sa mnom? Šta sam uradila? Zašto me oni ne vole?“ Sela sam i oni su mi rekli: „Lizi, jedina stvar koja te razlikuje od ostalih je to što si manja od druge dece. Imaš taj sindrom, ali on neće definisati to ko si ti." Rekli su: „Idi u školu, podigni glavu, nasmej se, nastavi da budeš to što jesi, i ljudi će videti da si ista kao i oni." Tako da sam to i uradila. Želim da se zamislite, i zapitate u svojoj glavi, upravo sada. Šta vas definiše? Ko ste vi? Je li to odakle ste? Je li to poreklo? Jesu li to vaši prijatelji? Šta je to? Šta definiše to ko ste kao osoba? Bilo mi je potrebno puno vremena da shvatim šta mene definiše. Dugo sam mislila da me definiše moj spoljašnji izgled. Mislila sam da su moje sićušne noge, moje male ruke, i moje malo lice ružni. Mislila sam da sam odvratna. Mrzela sam kada bih se probudila ujutru, dok sam išla u školu, i gledala bih u ogledalo dok se spremam, i mislila: „Mogu li samo da uklonim ovaj sindrom? Učinilo bi moj život toliko lakšim kad bih samo mogla da ga uklonim. Mogla bih da izgledam kao druga deca, ne bih morala da kupujem odeću koja ima 'istraživačicu Doru' na sebi. Ne bih morala da kupujem stvari koje su bile šljašteće, dok sam pokušavala da budem kao kul deca." Želela bih, molila se, nadala i radila šta god mogu kako bih se probudila ujutru i bila drugačija, i kako ne bih morala da se suočavam sa ovim poteškoćama. To sam želela svakog dana, i svakog dana sam bila razočarana. Imam neverovatnu podšku oko sebe, ljude koji me nikad nisu sažaljevali, koji su tu da me podignu kad sam tužna, koji su tu da se smeju sa mnom tokom dobrih vremena, a oni su me naučili da, iako imam ovaj sindrom, iako su stvari teške, ne mogu da dopustim da me to definiše. Moj život je stavljen u moje ruke, kao što su vaši životi stavljeni u vaše. Vi ste osoba na mestu vozača. Vi odlučujete da li vaš auto ide lošim ili dobrim putem. Vi odlučujete šta vas definiše. A da vam kažem, može biti zaista teško da shvatite šta vas definiše, jer bilo je trenutaka kad bih postala iznervirana i frustrirana: „Ne zanima me šta me definiše!" Kad sam bila u srednjoj školi, našla sam video, nažalost, koji je neko postavio o meni, u kome me je označio kao najružniju ženu na svetu. Bilo je preko 4 miliona pregleda ovog videa, trajao je osam sekundi, bio je bez zvuka, sa hiljadama komentara, ljudi koji govore: „Lizi, molim te, molim te, učini svetu uslugu, stavi pištolj na glavu i ubij se.“ Mislite o tome, da su vam ljudi to rekli, da su vam neznanci to govorili. Plakala sam kao kiša, naravno, bila sam spremna da uzvratim udarac, i kao da mi je nešto kliknulo u glavi, pa sam pomislila: „Samo ću da batalim to." Počela sam da shvatam da je život u mojim rukama. Mogla sam da izaberem ili da učinim ovo zaista dobrim, ili sam mogla da izaberem da učinim ovo zaista lošim. Mogla bih da budem zahvalna, da otvorim oči shvatim koje stvari imam, i načinim te stvari onim koje me definišu. Ne mogu da vidim na jedno oko, ali mogu da vidim na drugo. Možda se često razboljevam, ali imam zaista lepu kosu. (Smeh) (Publika) Imaš, imaš! Hvala. Vi ovde ste najbolji odeljak. (Smeh) Prekinuli ste mi tok misli! (Smeh) Okej... gde sam stala? (Publika) Tvoja kosa! Kosa! Kosa. Okej, okej, hvala vam. Hvala, hvala, hvala. Mogla bih da odaberem ili da budem srećna, ili da izaberem da budem uznemirena sa tim što imam, i da se i dalje žalim na to, ali onda sam počela da shvatam. Da li ću dopustiti da me definišu ljudi koji su me zvali čudovištem? Da li ću dopustiti ljudima koji su rekli: „Ubijte je vatrom!" da me definišu? Ne. Dopustiću mojim ciljevima, mom uspehu i mojim dostignućima da budu stvari koje me definišu - ne moj spoljašnji izgled, ne činjenica da sam osoba sa oštećenim vidom, ne činjenica da imam ovaj sindrom za koji niko ne zna šta je. Rekla sam sebi da ću raditi naporno, i uraditi šta god mogu da se poboljšam, jer u mojoj glavi, najbolji način da se osvetim tim ljudima koji su me ismevali, zadirkivali, koji su me nazivali ružnom, koji su me nazivali čudovištem, je bio da se poboljšam, i da im pokažem. Znate šta? Recite mi te negativne stvari, preokrenuću ih i koristiću ih kao merdevine kako bih se popela do svojih ciljeva. To sam uradila. Rekla sam sebi da želim da budem motivacioni govornik, da želim da napišem knjigu, završim fakultet, da imam porodicu i da imam sopstvenu karijeru. Osam godina kasnije, stojim ispred vas, još uvek držim motivacione govore. Prva stvar, postigla sam to. Želela sam da napišem knjigu. Za par nedelja ću predati rukopis za svoju treću knjigu. (Aplauz) Želela sam da završim fakultet, i upravo sam ga završila. (Ovacije i aplauz) Dobiću diplomu studija komunikacija sa Teksaškog državnog univerziteta u San Markosu, a druga oblast mi je bila engleski jezik. Ja sam zaista, ali zaista pokušala da koristim stvarna iskustva dok sam sticala diplomu, a moji profesori to nisu prihvatali. Htela sam da imam, naposletku, sopstvenu porodicu i karijeru. Deo sa porodicom je nekako u budućnosti, a deo sa karijerom, osećam se kao da mi karijera dobro ide, imajući u vidu činjenicu da sam, kad sam odlučila da želim da budem motivacioni govornik, otišla kući, sela za svoj laptop, otišla na Gugl i ukucala „kako postati motivacioni govornik“. (Smeh) Čak se i ne šalim. Radila sam naporno. Koristila sam ljude koji su mi govorili da ovo ne mogu da radim kao svoju motivaciju. Koristila sam njihovu negativnost da probudim vatru u sebi i da nastavim. Koristite to. Koristite to. Koristite tu negativnost koju imate u životu da poboljšate sebe, jer vam garantujem - garantujem vam - pobedićete. Sada želim da završim, pitajući vas ponovo. Želim da odete odavde i zapitate se šta vas definiše. Ali zapamtite, hrabrost počinje ovde. Hvala vam. (Aplauz)