Stefan Schwitter: Loose yourself to find YOURSELF | Stefan Schwitter | TEDxFHKufstein

Hello everyone! What can you see when you take a look at this picture? You might see a strong man with a strong body, full of focus, energy and determination, ready to fight in front of thousands of people in a, let’s put it this way, very unusual outfit, but a strong haircut. But it says on social media, you see the perfect picture and you think, wow. But as we all know, hopefully the reality looks quite different. If I have to describe this picture, and its deeper truth, I only see an empty and confused man living in a broken and painful body whose big dream of becoming a professional wrestling superstar comes slowly to an end. This man was me 10 years ago in Las Vegas. I'm sure when you think about Vegas, you think about fun and having the best time of your life or getting married with a person you have never met before. But when I hear Las Vegas, I only remember my darkest time. For days, I sat alone in my big hotel room at the Stratosphere Hotel and I [could] barely move my body out of pain. I stood at a crossroad not knowing where to go from here. Should I stay in Sin City and keep on working even harder on winning the jackpot in professional wrestling, no matter what my body was trying to tell me in the language of pain, or should I go home as a broken man? I went home, back to what is considered as one of the most beautiful countries in the world, Switzerland, the place where I grew up, along with my parents and my elder brother. We lived in a very big house surrounded by the abundance of nature, and we basically had it all. But from a very early age, I felt I don't belong here. See, when all the kids at my age read comic books, I was interested in professional wrestling, Buddhism and zen meditation. And when other kids played soccer, I stood in the corner and ask myself the question, what is this life all about? Yes, I felt alone and misunderstood. I even remember one time the teacher asked me in front of the class, “Stephane, what do you want to become when you’re older?” And I said, “I either want to become a professional wrestler in the United States of America or a Buddhist monk in Asia.” Imagine his face expression. It was the same face expression my father, the successful businessman, gave to me when I told him about my dreams. And I remember one time, instead of going on vacation with other kids, my parents had to bring me to a Buddhist monastery where I sat down with the monks and meditated for two weeks. But as time went by and I got more interested in girls, I put everything into becoming a professional wrestler. This sport mixed with entertainment made me feel completely alive and took me out of my own reality living in Switzerland. But I was still a 14 year old kid, so I had a major to-do list in front of me until I could finally chase my dream. But when I was 20 years old, I was ready to go and I was ready to really dive in to become a professional wrestler and to sign a contract for the biggest wrestling company in the world located in the United States of America, the WWE. But what does this business really mean? Wrestling means to earn your spot. And just like in life, you can only earn something if you have sold the seats. No one is waiting for you and this business owes you nothing. You have to promote yourself and get yourself in the right position that the right people will notice you over and over again. This is an extreme sport where you have to make lots of sacrifices and it is a sport that has no season and doesn't accept any excuses. So let me take you on my journey of how I entered this business and faced this nearly impossible challenge as a guy coming from Switzerland with no wrestling background whatsoever and where this whole journey did lead me. So let's face it. Here was the reality and there was the dream. I firmly believed, and I still do, that if the dream is bigger than the obstacles, you will find a way and of course, I didn't see any option to stay in Switzerland, so I had to leave my home country in order to turn my dream into reality. And the first step of my journey led me straight to Vienna, Austria. I wrestled at a wrestling school for two weeks and for the first time in my life, as I stood in this wrestling ring, I knew I have arrived. After two weeks, the wrestling coach came to me and he said, “Stephane, you have the heart and you have the talent and you should continue to chase your dream.” So with a suitcase full of dreams, I went back to Switzerland and I started to work at a local gym to: A. finance my dream and to coach other people, and to B. getting the best shape possible. But as soon as I made enough money, I packed my bags and I left Switzerland for good. I moved from a big house to a tiny little apartment in a not so beautiful part in Germany. I exchanged living in a big room to share a tiny room with two other people and three other pets. And what seems like a big downgrade on the surface became a huge upgrade to me because I was one step closer to living my dream. And in Germany, I went to the gym twice a day and I found a wrestling school where I could wrestle on a daily basis. And I did that day in, day out, seven days a week. After a couple of months, I had my first wrestling matches in front of a handful of people, and I traveled all over in Germany to participate in local shows. I did that for 12 months, for one year, to be exact. And after 12 months, I decided to really make the big step. Now, I signed up at a very tough but very famous wrestling school in Atlanta, Georgia, in the United States. And I went there for three months. This is the maximum of time that you can spend in the United States as a tourist. So as I took the plane and I entered this wrestling school in the USA, reality hit me straight in the face. I was completely ignored by each and every one in there because I was just known as the guy coming from Europe. And then I knew I have to work harder than anybody else. And I made sure that I am always the first one who shows up at practice and the last one who closes the door behind him. I did that every single day. I trained for hours and I earned my respect. After two months, this wrestling school became my home away from home, and those people who ignored me first became my second family. And very shortly before I had to leave back to Europe, the owner of the school came to me and he said, “I just made a phone call with the WWE. They want to check you out and they invite you for an eight hour tryout.” This was like a dream come true. This is what I worked so hard for. So with a rental car, I drove into the deepest south of torture and I knocked on the doors of the WWE. After eight hours of being tested, trained and drilled and being looked at of one of the best coaches in the world, and as I stood in the ring with wrestlers I only knew from TV, the head coach came to me and he said, “We really like your style, Stephane. We are going to invite you to stay with us for one week in two weeks.” So there was the chance, but I could not take it because of the visa situation. I had to leave the United States 48 hours later and I left very devastated and with a broken heart. But the head coach gave me one advice and one promise. He said, “If you go back to Europe, I want you to wrestle every show possible. And I promise you, when you come back, we are going to give you another chance.” So I did exactly what he told me. I went back to Europe and I paid my dues. I wrestled every show possible. And sometimes it means you drive your car for 13 hours just to wrestle a five minute match in front of 20 people. And you drive 13 hours back and the promoters only pay you the gas money. I did that not only for one time, I did that for the next few years to come. I wrestled on dirty floors and cold holes or even in the car. And after five years arrested in about 15 countries, I competed in more than 300 matches, sometimes in front of 50 people, sometimes in front of 5000. But in that time period, I also traveled back and forth to the United States, but unfortunately, the guy who promised me the second chance didn't work for the company anymore. And you see, I always had to start from zero again. This business is running on such a fast paced level that it doesn't matter what you did yesterday when somebody told you yesterday. But this time I found myself back in Las Vegas and my seventh time to the U.S. after Atlanta. But this time was different. See, everything we do comes with a price. And I was there in Las Vegas in my final days as a professional wrestler. There was the chance again, but my body told me not to take it. In the last seven years, I experienced injuries like broken bones, broken ribs, concussions, dislocated joints, and I even tear my eardrum. And the only question I had left at 3:00 a.m. in the morning in Las Vegas was, what went wrong? And out of the blue, I remember my days at the monastery when I was a kid that was an old monk who taught me one very particular thing, he said people get lost in doing because they're so busy running after things. Invest into being and you will see clearly and you will find yourself and see the world with new eyes and this message hit me right in the heart. 15 years later, as I hit rock bottom right there in Las Vegas. See, I live my life in the last 27 years, and especially in the last seven years and a half do and be method, which means if I only have and signed this contract, I could wrestle in front of thousands of people on a daily basis and get paid great money for it. And I will finally be a happy and fulfilled person. Guess what? I was not. I was not because I invested in the wrong things at first. And I knew, I have to turn my life completely around and invest and invest into one thing only. So I had to let go of the having part, letting go of the doing part and invest and practice being. So I was this guy who made this decision and I became that guy who turned his life completely around. I went back to Europe and I checked-in in a Buddhist temple to practice zen. As the abbot of the temple came to me, he just said one thing. He said, “I want you to stop everything. Stop running, stop chasing, stop knocking on closed doors. Just sit with us and meditate with us and the world will come to you. At some point something will open up and you will discover something that you have not discovered yet.” So I did exactly what he told me. I sat for hours, for days, for weeks and months to come, and at some point something opened up. It was just like the clouds of my life disappeared and I could see the blue sky for the first time in my life and the blue sky became my purpose for life. See, I always loved to coach people either in the gym or in the wrestling ring. But before I could help and train others, I have to heal myself. First, I needed to come up with a whole new way of training. So I sat longer and at some point I got inspired with moving and using my body in such a way that I can become pain free, stronger, more aware and more energetic than ever before. And it happened and it happened effortlessly, and after investing in that for the next few months, this idea became a method and at some point I was ready to bring it to the people and try to serve them. So I went back to the country I always thought I don’t belong, and I made peace with it because I made peace with myself before, and with the less money I had, I found a tiny little apartment that I had to rebuild and start my new beginning and to live my new purpose. See, starting from zero was something that wrestling teach me and zen teach me on how to let go and how to go all in. And when everything was ready and I was ready to welcome clients to teach my method, no one showed up. No one showed up after the first day, not after a months and not after two months. My younger self would have become very nervous, frustrated and angry. But my new self remained calm and peaceful because I knew if I sit long enough and just work on myself, the world will come to me. After three months, the first client showed up and a couple of months later I have 100 clients. And now five years later, everything developed. As I developed and upgraded my inner world, so did my outer world. So within, so without I have arrived, I am fulfilled and I am beyond grateful. But this is not about the method and not about success. This is about the message of trust, honest and sometimes painful self reflection and practice the art of being. And this chance came to me and I took it. And the funny thing is, I haven't stood in a wrestling ring for years, not even thought about wrestling, and a while ago I got a phone call from a famous promoter for a very famous wrestling promotion in the United States. And I got offered one last wrestling match. This would be a wrestling match I would have dreamed about in my seven year wrestling period. But this time I have the freedom to take this chance or not just sit and I guarantee you if you work on yourself and on your cell phone, the world will come to you. Thank you.