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)
能來到現場,我感到非常非常興奮 我想告訴各位一些關於… 我不想說"基本上"… 因為關於我的疾病,大家真的一無所知 我一出生,就罹患這種罕見疾病 目前知道,除了我 世上只有另外兩個人有這種疾病, 基本上,這種疾病無法使我增加體重 沒錯,聽起來的確很不錯 (大笑) 我可隨時吃任何我想吃的東西 而且完全不會變胖 今年三月,我就25歲了 目前為止,我的體重從未超過64磅(約29公斤) 唸大學的時候,我藏了… 嗯…我不是"藏" 因為每個人都知道它在那裡 有一大桶裝了奶油夾心蛋糕、 甜甜圈、洋芉片、彩虹糖 我室友說: "我在半夜12點半可以聽到" "你把手伸到床下找東西吃的聲音" 但我說,"妳知道嗎?" "沒關係,我可以這麼做!" 因為這種疾病有一些好處 包括,不會變胖 視力受損 長的非常瘦小 很多人會認為 "Lizzie,妳怎麼會說這些是好處呢?" "只能用一隻眼睛看東西算是好處?" 我之所以會說是好處 是因為它們真的很棒 我戴隱形眼鏡,只要"單片" (大笑) 我戴鏡框眼鏡 "一隻"眼睛的度數 如果有人很煩、對我沒禮貌 我就讓他們站在我的右邊 (大笑) 就像不知道站在那裡 根本不存在一樣 現在,若我就這樣站著 我完全不知道 這個房間竟還有另外一大半 再說,因為長得很瘦小 我非常願意自告奮勇 到"Weight Watchers"減肥網站 或到一些健身中心,然後說: "嗨!我是Lizzie" "我想當你們的廣告代言人" 隨意使用我的頭像 然後我會說 "嗨!我參加了這個減重計畫" "看效果多好!" (大笑) 即使因為這個疾病 而有許多很棒的事發生 但各位也可以想像得到 同樣也發生了非常非常艱困的事情 從小我被扶養長大,"非常正常" 我是家中的長女 出生前,醫生們告訴我媽 "妳女兒沒有羊水包覆" "完全沒有" 所以當我嚎啕大哭出生時 簡直是個奇蹟 醫生告訴我的父母 我們只想先警告你們 "永遠不要期待你們的女兒" "可以講話、走路、爬行、思考" "或可以靠自己做任何事" 你們大概會認為我的新手爸媽會說 "不會吧!怎麼會?" "為何我們的第一孩子" "會有這些查無病因的問題?" 但是他們沒這麼說 他們對醫生說的第一句話 "我們想要看她,並且帶她回家" "竭盡所能地關愛她、養育她" 他們是這麼說的 目前幾乎所有我能夠完成的事 都要歸功於我的父母 我爸在現場,我媽在家看直播 嗨!媽! (大笑) 她剛做完手術,正在復原 她一直扮演"膠水"的角色 讓我們全家人牢牢地結合在一起 她源源不絕地給我力量 來見證她經歷的許多難關 並傳襲給我 她永不放棄的奮鬥精神 所以我可以很自豪地 站在各位面前說 "大家知道嗎?我經歷了一段很艱困的生活" "但是沒關係" 沒關係 那些事情曾經很嚇人、很棘手 在我的成長過程中 有件重大且非得去處理的事 我也非常確信 在座的每個人之前都曾經歷過 各位猜猜看是什麼? "ㄅ"開頭,猜到了嗎? (觀眾)笨男生! (Lizzie)笨男生? (大笑) 是霸凌啦! (大笑) 我知道你們這些人在想什麼! (大笑) 我可以跟他們坐在一起嗎? (大笑) 我常面臨霸凌問題 但就像我說的,我被正常地扶養長大 所以當我上幼稚園的時候 我完全不知道我的外貌和別人有何不同 完全不知道 我不知道我長得跟其他小孩不一樣 對一個5歲的小孩來說 現實猶如賞了我一個大巴掌 開學第一天 我穿戴著"波卡洪塔絲"的行頭 我已經準備好了 (大笑) 我背著書包上學 因為書包比我還要大 所以就像背了個龜殼一樣 我走向一位小女生 對她面露微笑 她抬起頭來看我 就像看到怪物一樣 我是她曾看過的最可怕的東西似的 我最初的反應是 "她真的很沒禮貌" (大笑) 我是個活寶 而這將會是她的損失 所以我自己走了過去 玩積木,或和"笨男生"一起玩 (大笑) (Lizzie也笑了) 當初我認為日子會漸入佳境 不幸的是,並沒有 日子反而漸入"困"境 很多人完全不想 和我扯上關係 而我卻不知道為何會這樣 為什麼?我做了什麼? 我沒對他們怎麼樣啊! 我一直覺得自己很酷 回到家,我就問爸媽 "我有那裡不對勁嗎?" "我做了什麼?" "為什麼他們不喜歡我?" 他們要我坐下並對我說 "Lizzie, 你唯一與眾不同的地方" "是跟其他小孩比起來,你比較瘦小" "你雖然生了這種病" "但這不能界定你是怎樣的人" 他們說 "去上學,抬頭挺胸,面帶微笑" "繼續做自己,別人終究會了解" "你和他們是沒有兩樣的" 我就照著他們話去做 現在我想請各位想一想 在心裡問自己一個問題 什麼界定了你? 你是誰? 和你的出生地、家世背景、或者和朋友有關嗎? 是什麼? 到底是什麼界定了你這個人? 我花了好長一段時間 才釐清楚是什麼東西界定了我 長久以來,我認為是 我的外表,我瘦小的腿、 瘦小的手臂 和我這張瘦小且醜陋的臉 我認為我真的是令人作嘔 一覺醒來,我憎恨我自己 上中學時,我憎恨我自己 看鏡子梳洗時想著 "可以就這樣把這種病擦洗掉嗎?" 如果可以就這樣擦洗掉 我的生活或許會因此輕鬆許多 我可以長得跟其他小孩一樣 且不必買那些衣服 上面印著"愛探險的朵拉"圖案 也不用買一些 令人"目眩神迷"的玩意 只是為了要和那些"酷"孩看起來一樣 我會希望、祈求、期望 且做任何我可以做到的事 好讓我能一早醒來就有所不同 好讓我能不必再掙扎過日子 這就是我朝思暮想的事情 然而我卻一而再再而三地失望 一直有個超棒的支援體系支持著我 所有人都不會憐憫我 我難過時,有人在一旁扶我一把 開心愉快的時候 有人都會陪我開懷大笑 他們教會了我一件事 即使我罹患了這種疾病 即使每樣事情都很艱鉅 都不能讓這些事界定我這個人 我的生活,我自己掌握 就像各位的生活也操之在你們自己手裡 您是自己命運的駕駛員 唯有你自己才可以決定 命運的列車駛向 崎嶇亦或是平坦的道路 唯有你自己才能決定 什麼東西可以界定你這個人 我告訴各位 要釐清是什麼東西界定你真的很難 因為我時常會 感到很氣憤很挫折 甚至而且還會說 "我才不在乎是什麼東西界定了我" 高中時,我看過一部影片 不幸的是,某人把"我"的影片傳到網路上 標題為"世界上最醜陋的女人" 超過4百萬次的點閱 影片長度8秒 沒有聲音 且有數以千計的留言,其中有人說 "Lizzie,拜託,拜託" "幫這個世界一個忙" "把槍口抵在你的頭上" "然後自我了斷" 試想一下 如果有人這樣告訴你 如果是陌生人這樣告訴你 我當然是嚎啕大哭後 接著準備好予以反擊 然而我腦袋瓜 突然閃過一個念頭 我想…"就這麼算了吧!" 我開始了解 生活可以操之在己 要嘛,讓生活過得更好 亦或是讓生活更加悲慘 我可以滿懷感激,且睜開雙眼 察覺並珍惜我目前所擁有的事物 然後讓這些事物界定我自已 我一隻眼睛看不見 慶幸的是,我還有另一隻眼睛 我或許時常掛病號 但是我有一頭美麗的長髮 (大笑) (觀眾)沒錯!真的! 謝謝! 現場最棒的一群人 就坐在前面這個小區塊 (大笑) (Lizzie也笑了) 你們讓我的思緒都跑掉了! (大笑) 好,我講到那裡了? (觀眾)你漂亮的長髮 頭髮!頭髮!對了! 謝謝!謝謝!謝謝! 所以我可以依著現況,選擇開心 或選擇苦惱,然後仍然抱怨個不停 但是我開始了解 我要讓那些叫我怪物的人來界定我嗎? 我要讓那些高喊 "放火燒死她"的人來界定我嗎? 不要!我要讓我的目標 成功,及許許多多的成就 來界定我自己 而不是我的外表 不是我受損的視力 不是我這種不為人知的疾病 所以我告訴自己要用盡全力 做任何事情讓自己變得更好 因為我想最好的方式,來反擊那些 嘲笑我的人、作弄我的人 說我醜陋、叫我怪物的人 就是讓我自己活得更好 並且告訴他們 你們知道嗎? 我會把你們跟我說的 所有負面的事情轉個方向 且以此為階梯 爬向我所設定的目標 我就是這麼做的 我告訴我自己 我要成為心靈講師 我要出書 大學畢業,成家立業 立下目標的8年後 站在各位面前的我 依然是到處演講,激勵他人 我完成了第一個目標 第二個目標是出書 幾個星期後 我會交出第3本書的手稿 (掌聲響起) 第三個目標是大學畢業 而我不久前畢業了 (歡呼及掌聲) 我拿到聖馬科斯 德克薩斯州立大學 "傳播與溝通研究"學士學位 另外,我輔修英文 且非常努力嘗試用現實生活上的經驗 以順利取得學位 大學教授們都還沒有遇過這樣的例子 最後,我想達成的目標是成家立業 成家的目標或許還要再等一等 至於事業方面,我覺得目前一切都很順利 當初我下定決心要成為心靈講師時 回到家坐在電腦前 我Google搜尋列上打上 "如何成為心靈講師?"(大笑) 我真的沒開玩笑 我非常非常努力 我讓那些否定我的人 成為激勵我向上的力量 我讓那些負面的評論 成為驅使我向前的能量 善用這點,善用這點 善用你生活中所有負面的人事物 提升自我,讓自己變得更好 我可以向你保證 向你保證 你終究會戰勝一切 現在我想以一個問題 來結束這次的演講 我要各位離開這裡後 問自己什麼能界定你自己 且永遠記住 勇氣從此時此刻開始 謝謝! (全場掌聲)