Exploring TED

I've been thinking about the TED Talk that we have to do since the beginning of the semester. I do have so many interests and I'm fascinated by so many things. Everything from astronomy, to music, to photography, to politics interests me and it's so difficult to narrow it down to one sole thing that I want to talk about. When I sifted through all of these interests I thought, none of this is personal enough for me to create a ten minute talk.

I was considering doing a talk on music. Music is such a broad, unspecific word in my opinion. It's like "love" or "a lot"...so abstract. I can recall how music has been such a prominent role in my life since I could remember playing around with the karaoke machine I got for Christmas at the age of five. I thought I had a pretty solid topic and could've focused my talk around the different sorts of music I liked and why I have certain songs on my iPod that I will never ever delete because they can bring me back to a certain time where I can basically feel, touch, taste, and smell the memory. I thought I was set.


Over the weekend I hopped on to one of my favorite websites, PostSecret and did my usual Sunday routine of checking out the latest posts. I always found these "secrets" inspiring and relatable; this website has made me feel not so alone for about seven years now. I was scrolling down the page, headphones blasting, all comfortable in my bed then stopped in my tracks upon reading this confession:

Unfortunately, it got my mind racing back to the past 4 years I had suffered with an eating disorder. Although never as extreme, a majority of my adolescence into young adulthood was a constant battle with the scale. Today, I feel like there isn't all that much awareness about the severity and prevalence of eating disorders among older groups of girls. This post caused me to go exploring on my other blog  to past entries concerning my weight. I found this one from this past May and it helped me figure out exactly why I want to do my talk on body image.

"I hate those days when you look in the mirror and hate everything you see. Every flaw seems magnified thousands of times; your nose, every spot, the way your eyes are a bit uneven, the funny way your upper lip disappears when you smile, the fat from your thighs, each pudgy finger, the way your legs are bowed from dancing, poor posture, everything.

I HATE when people say girls only express their insecurities because they’re fishing for compliments. Anybody who has ever said that should honestly reevaluate how they think about other people. Both girls and boys alike don’t just say these things to hear someone say something positive that they won’t believe anyway. Why can’t anyone accept that people do feel like they’re flawed and do wish they can change themselves? I find it so messed up that society automatically thinks people are out to only benefit themselves or that someone who feels negatively must have an ulterior motive to expressing what they dislike about their appearance. I’m rambling I know but it’s just something that’s bothered me for a while. Next time someone expresses something they dislike about themselves, even if it seems like the most minute thing, think twice before you jump to the conclusion that they just want to hear something you assume they already know."


Of course this is a rather broad topic but I really think I can narrow it down and try to make people in the class care about it because it does affect more people than we realize and it's a societal issue that will most likely not go away.