10 Hours of TED Talk

One fateful day, I decided to spend my entire waking hours watching Ted Talk videos. You may ask "why?" Well, because why not?

Here, I have gathered all the lessons that I've learnt in the 10 hours.

HOUR 2

I have now mastered the art of small talk. Along with it, I can also carry out long conversations with anyone and anything. Yes, you heard it correctly. ANYTHING! I usually steer clear of social interactions but to implement this new found talent I shall be stopping strangers on the street to talk about the weather from now on. 

I also had a moment of awakening listening to this talk about how we never truly listen to anyone and how the art of listening is so important for any relationship. But I can't really discuss this any further for while I was contemplating this topic myself, I missed out on half the talk. 

HOUR 4

I have a new superpower now. I can spot a liar from about a mile away. No, please don't come to me with your peasant knowledge about spotting liars which you probably acquired from watching Lie to Me. My knowledge is based on scientific evidences that have been collected over years of research. At least, according to the TED Talk lady it is. 

Another thing I've learnt is how truth seeking is much more important than lie spotting. But to me, spotting a lie and saying "gotcha" in the middle of a sentence seems much more fun and honestly way cooler than seeking the truth. 

HOUR 6

I have uncovered answers to two very pressing questions which have been haunting me for the past few years. "How can we become more mentally strong?" Well, apparently we need to get rid of bad habits such as stowing away our emotions and instead learn to embrace them. We need to feel all the emotions that make us feel uncomfortable; such as sadness, anger, and guilt. Then afterwards, we need to move on.

"What is the cure to loneliness?" The answer to this one was a big surprise. Basically, what we need to do is we need to stop pushing people away and instead open ourselves up to them more. No matter how difficult it is to talk about a certain tragedy it's always better to talk to someone instead of suffering alone. Who knew?

HOUR 8

By this time, all the video topics are starting to feel a bit monotonous. I mean, I have been watching for the past 8 hours now. I watch this video about how we can get everything we want by doing one simple task:  getting out of our comfort zones and forcing ourselves to do a task that we don't feel like doing. Because whatever it is in our life that we want changed we never really feel up to making that change. But once we force ourselves to take that one step, according to the TED Talk dude, we will achieve all happiness.

HOUR 10

At this point, my brain can't really process anything I'm hearing. It's all just a blur of colours and people moving around against a dark background.

At the end of these 10 hours I feel like a completely new person. I feel this new enthusiasm to take on life and build more stable relationships with everyone around me. I hope this enthusiasm lasts for at least a day. Fingers crossed. 

Tasnim Odrika is having an existential crisis at the moment and doesn't really know who she is anymore. Send her compliments at odrika_02@yahoo.com.