Translator: Javier Mariño Reviewer: Ellen Maloney
Last year I was diagnosed with a birth deformity,
a calcified diverticulum.
This condition caused me
a series of health complications, very serious infections
that made me seriously ill.
So, getting to the diagnosis wasn't easy, because it's not very common.
So, I had to stay in the hospital for a long time.
During all this time, many professionals were there
to help me get better.
Their intervention was essential because they were all necessary
for my recovery.
If any of these people are listening to me,
I'd like to thank them, heartily.
At the end of this process, I was fortunate enough to find a specialist
who knew exactly what I had.
And also, most importantly, how to recover from it.
To reach a definitive solution.
Something I realize many people
don't have as a possibility.
They told me I had to have surgery.
Well, I'd have to have surgery.
I wasn't scared.
Conversely, I felt very happy and very fortunate,
because I could come out at the end of this problem.
And what I'm talking about now so briefly, took me a long time.
I lost the entire school year, last year.
I lost so much time, they say, but I'd like to think I gained it.
I gained experience, I gained the will to fight.
I gained a lot of values. I came to know myself.
There are moments in life, difficult situations in which,
although we have many people around us, supporting us,
we alone are the ones who have to face them.
They also say that when you go
through a difficult situation in your life, may it be an illness
or any other case, for instance,
an accident, a difficult economic situation,
a difficult family situation, the loss of your job.
Well, when you get over it, you get back to the rhythm of your previous life.
Today I come to tell you that this is not so.
Everything changes, when you return to your previous life,
to these obligations that marked a constant movement, to return to class,
to work, to the English academy on Thursdays,
everything has changed.
And the world has changed,
during this time, you have not been able to advance,
you have had to stop.
This means that we have to adapt to a series of changes,
because life is change and changes is necessary.
These changes make us feel bewildered
and restless, and we think that maybe something bad is going to happen to us.
However, I think that changes are opportunities in disguise.
I would like to point out the importance of
seeing situations in a positive way
because I am aware that I am an 18-year-old girl,
and I am a normal and ordinary girl, like many others,
but I would like to contribute what I learned from my experience
and it is to look at things in a certain way
to see the good there is in them.
For this, I want to tell you a legend that I was told at the hospital.
This legend lit a light bulb on my head.
Legend has it that the famous King Solomon long ago
wanted to test his most loyal minister
and gave him an impossible task.
To find a ring with magical powers.
The requirement of this ring was that if a sad man looked upon it,
he had to rejoice,
and if a happy man looked upon it, he would be saddened.
"What a strange thing," the minister thought. "It's impossible."
Obviously the King had done it to prove his fidelity.
That was impossible.
He set him a deadline to find it
and the minister left to look for this ring.
And when the deadline was running out,
he was in one of Jerusalem's poorest neighborhoods,
and he saw a jeweler, a jeweler out there, and asked him:
"Hey, have you ever heard of this ring?"
And the jeweler said, "Yes." He took out a gold ring,
engraved it, and gave it to the minister.
and the Minister, so pleased, said: "Great, I'll take it to the King,"
then he left, took the ring to King Solomon, just in time,
and the King was very surprised to see that he had succeeded.
He observed the ring and said:
"This is a normal ring!"
Then he read the jeweler's engraving.
The engraving said, "This too shall pass."
and realized that all his immense knowledge,
his great material possessions, all his money,
were perishable things,
and that at some point it would be nothing but dust.
"This too shall pass" is a phrase that can be disconcerting
when we are having a good time,
but in bad times, we can focus on them because it is a reminder
that negative situations are transient, temporary,
however timeless they seem, because we get engulfed in that swirl
of negativity that comes with them.
Good situations, on the other hand, are not eternal either.
We cannot think that we will enjoy a perfect situation forever,
we have to be aware of this and value it,
and when we have it, take advantage of it and enjoy the small moments,
the small details, the smiles, the time with our family and friends,
our families, our work, our vacations, enjoy everything.
I think that negative situations are always unexpected because,
who expects something negative to happen to them all the time? Nobody.
To better confront the negative situations
we have to take into account these small details of which I speak.
I also think that the key is not to see the situations as in black and white,
but with different shades of gray.
There are bad situations that aren't completely black.
In fact, situations aren't ever
completely black,
there's always a light, and there's always something positive we can learn.
In my case, what I learned was a vocation.
I stayed in hospitals for a long time living with other patients;
with many professionals; nursing assistants who brought me juices
at night when I was going to sleep, and told me stories;
and many wonderful doctors. And I discovered I wanted to be a doctor.
Because I wanted to help
other people in the future, too.
So I've come to tell you that,
although I am aware that there are much worse cases than mine,
I want you to look for the good,
because negative situations
always have that learning to contribute,
that tastes like that sweet flavor that some coffees leave.
I come to say that ...
what we have to do, instead of waiting
for the situations of our life to bring us happiness,
is bring happiness to all the situations of our life.
Every single one of them.
Because, in reality, it is our thoughts
that build reality.
I also want to say that I don't know much about life,
I'm here talking about life and I have no idea,
sometimes I think all I know is that I don't like Mondays,
and sometimes my toast gets burned.
I just want
you to learn to see things in a positive way
and I encourage you to remember that your ultimate goal in life is to be happy.
I've talked about studying medicine, which is my goal, I love it,
I'm passionate, of course.
But there's something above this, which is to be happy.
I remember, when I was a little girl,
the kindergarten teacher asked me
what I wanted to be when I grew up.
I'd say,"I want to be happy."
And he told me that I hadn't understood the question.
Now I've grown up and I believe that my knowledge allows me
to grasp the question well.
I'd still be answering the same thing.
I want to reflect on what the world would mean,
what the world would look like if we were all happy.
Because it'd be much better,
there wouldn't be so many injustices.
Everything would be much better.
For this, we only have to change the way we see the negative
and also follow our heart, what it tells us.
Because the others around us tell us to follow many paths,
but that is not usually the path our hearts dictate.
We have our own path to follow.
Our path has an end,
but until then we have plenty of time to walk, to live,
and to write our own history.