OMG...My TEDx talk is out! ??

Six years ago I uttered the following crazy words out loud:

"One day, I'll give a TED talk!"

Of course, like so many I thought it sounded a lil' crazy...

But the truth is, I knew deep down that one day I'd be standing on that stage, staring at an audience of people who's lives I was about to impact.

I just had no idea when or how!

All I knew is that I somehow wanted to give back to others.

I wanted to give back the same way that so many inspiring speakers had given back to me.

Especially when I went through a pretty dark time in 2009 and watched TED talks on a daily basis for a dose of inspiration and motivation.

And you know what?

That dream of mine almost took place in 2015, when I was invited to speak at a TEDxWoman event in Belgium.

But at the last minute, they canceled my slot.

It wasn't just that I was disappointed.

It's that I was embarrassed.

I'd told the world, and here I was, having to tell everyone I knew that actually, it wasn't going to happen.

But I never stopped believing. And I never gave up.

I knew that one day, my day would come and my dream would come true.

And on the 22nd April 2017, it did.

At 2.20pm, I took a deep breath and walked up the four steps that led me to the main stage at TEDxCardiff in front of a jam packed audience.

As I made my way to the middle of the stage, I could see in the audience, my partner, my mum and my friends who had all traveled from far and wide to come and support me. 

It was overwhelming.

In fact, it still gives me goosebumps just thinking about it.

Before you know it, it was over.

It felt like I was just 2min up on that stage.

Obviously, I wasn't...

Now I'd be lying if I said that speaking at TEDx wasn't by far one of the most special events of my life.

It really was.

It was also one of the hardest things I've ever done.

Six months of gruelling preparation went into that talk.

I lost sleep over it.

I cried over it.

But I had so many people supporting me through this process, especially my partner who had to put up with all my mood swings over half a year!

And you know what? That's what happens when you're so close to making your dreams come true.

It's scary.

It consumes you.

And if you follow me on Facebook then you'll know that ten days before the actual TEDxCardiff event, and after months of preparation, I decided to scrap my entire talk.

I went back to the drawing board and with barely a week to go, I wrote a whole new talk.

It was brutal.

But looking back at it now, it was the best decision I made.

Then again, I'll let you be the judge of that...

Finally, what I'll say is that it's been quite a journey to get this talk out on YouTube.

And the truth is, I'm still waiting for the right title and video description to be updated.

But instead of waiting for it to be perfect, I wanted to share it with you.

And of course it goes without saying that this was a true team effort!

So many people stepped up to help me with edits, suggestions and tweaks.

Too many to mention here, but I know they know who they are.

Thank you.

Here's to having dreams and chasing them, as chasing dreams may very well be what life is all about.

Maybe...

Until we find out for sure, it gives me great joy to share with you my very first TEDx talk! (As you'll see, I may have become the world's first TEDx speaker to take a selfie on stage...)

Why You Shouldn't Become An Entrepreneur | Mark Leruste | TEDxCardiff

What about you? What's one of your crazy dreams?

Let let me know in the comments bellow.

Share it with me and who knows when it might happen!

Mark