On Empowered Healing through Unapologetic Authenticity | Gauthami Jeji | TEDxISMEBangalore
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okrrkk0Ki5Y Video ID: okrrkk0Ki5Y ============================================================ foreign [Music] at the age of 14 I bought my first dress that revealed my legs at the age of 15. I stopped wearing jackets and sweaters in the peak of Summer now this will always be one of my biggest achievements because up until then I was hiding as you may have noticed I have Whitley go and autoimmune disorder Vitiligo appears when my body and when my immune system sees the pigmentation right the melanin produced by my own body as an unhealthy thing and hence my immune system attacks it and the places where it attacks on my body turns white as simple as that I spent my childhood more in the hospitals Consulting doctors then I did having fun in the playground under the sun now while the medications and the procedures might have differed from each doctor one thing remained constant for sure they always asked me to stop taking stress in fact they advised my parents to keep me away from stressful environments now how on Earth was this little girl going to tell them that it wasn't the wittely go that bothered her the poor white patches didn't do anything to be very honest I sometimes forget I even have vitiligo it was the do's and the don'ts it was having my normal childhood taken away from me it was the don't have citrus food for the longest I forgot what my favorite drink a simple lemonade tasted like it was the don't wear makeup because it might be really harmful for your skin even today I find myself finding so much comfort in expressing myself through makeup and art it was the I think you have to give up your dog because I think your white patches are a result of an allergy so it was having to give up my beautiful pet dog that stressed me out but most importantly the fashion industry owes me and you a huge apology it was The Toxic eurocentric beauty standards that stressed me out it was the lack of representation in the fashion world that stressed me out I would open a random magazine and I would not find people who look like me and you I didn't find people who were curvy and who had normal skin with acne and textures let alone you know vitiligo it was people who imbibed these toxic standards into their daily lives and later projected it on other people that stressed me out for example I would walk into a store to say buy a moisturizer and the lady from the Cosmetic Department would come up to me and ask um hello Madam are you looking for a concealer Noah was not looking for a concealer because you see the word beauty had one definition had one blueprint for 8 billion people on this planet eight billion people on this planet and people who did not fit into that standard and who did not look a certain way we're made to feel less beautiful were made to feel less Worthy I was told my Whitley go has no cure therefore I decided to heal because you remember when I told you the doctor asked me to stop taking stress yeah I decided to work on that you see when you're stressed your body produces a hormone called cortisol and although this is a very essential part of your body and is needed too much of it can be unhealthy especially for autoimmune disorders or any health problems for that matter so I worked on that and I looked inwards my focus was not my skin or my physical health anymore it was my mental and emotional being so I started a dialogue with myself where is my Vitiligo coming from and what is my body trying to communicate with me and that was again I would wake up every day to see my patches rapidly shrinking I would um Pat myself looking at this really cute brown spots on my patches and they were healing all on their own so what does healing mean I heal every time I'm kind my body I heal every time I cater to my body's needs without judgment I heal when I communicate my needs I heal when I express myself I heal when I make a conscious effort to be surrounded by people who are kind loving and respectful I heal when I am authentic when my mother was in her third trimester with me she and my father they saw something at that Ultra ultrasound appointment that completely stunned them I was pouting hair flip yeah since day one so you see I've always known The Importance of Being expressive I've always known belonged in front of the camera on the stage in front of crowds like you all today I decided to enter the fashion industry only because I wanted to have fun I did not enter with the only goal or intention of breaking types of redefining Beauty shattering glass ceilings and making my Mark here I entered because I thought this is something that I would enjoy and be good at rightfully so and I did that there was enough justification for me to pursue my dreams why because I just found happiness in it it's as simple as that and when I did this when I decided to be myself Fame success and change followed these were a result of me simply choosing to be myself you see what I'm trying to tell you here today is the best way to influence is by simply being yourself easy you know it's just one thing that you have to do you do not have to do anything extraordinary or perform difficult tasks or Hustle you simply have to be yourself and greatness will follow you the universe loves a person who's authentic so why wouldn't it give you all that you desire so take up space as much as you need in this world be loud be unapologetically loud because I am here and I am going to tell you that the world really needs more people who are full of themselves and who know their worth because I know when I did that when I put myself out there even though it was scary and I it demanded me to be vulnerable people from all around the globe vittilians non-vittillians people from all age groups reached out to me to say thank you for doing what you do we really love your work I have parents I have mothers and fathers and aunts and siblings of children who reach out to me to say my child feels validated and confident when they see your pictures I have men handsome men who slide into my DMs to say thank you for doing what you do now why this is so important to me is because as a model and as a feminist I do not see enough representation of men in the fashion industry and I am so so sorry if the world felt like a really unsafe place for you to be yourself I'm sorry if you were made to feel guilty or if you were shamed for being yourself but my love I am here and I will tell you this it is not too late to unlearn you can look at yourself in the mirror and say hi I've missed you how are you start to dialogue with yourself because yourself has missed you because I'm standing up here and I can see each one of you very clearly oh hello you guys are stunning all right and you deserve to take up space in this world so go for it be yourself because I know I have one job in this world which is to be myself now going to do a very simple activity and it's very simple we're going to sit up straight can we do that yeah we're not bananas this is correcting our postures good for our bodies and health sit straight your back straight are we doing it oh you back benches I can see you okay I'm a Batman shirt too okay setting up straight good job we're going to take one deep breath and I want to show you that I want to hear you breathing and leave out a sigh okay do this knowing that you are safe and that you are protected so let's take a deep breath in good job can can all of you show me your left hand ah look at those good job good job place it over your heart your beautiful kind heart close your eyes knowing you're safe close it no one's watching you we're all closing your eyes take a deep breath in and now we're going to say something okay we're going to repeat loudly so that each word is greatly vibrated into the universe okay hi guys I I influenced by simply being myself I hold great joy and success in my being take one more deep breath open your eyes when you're ready and thank you so much for your time foreign [Applause]