Translator: Polonca Štritof Reviewer: Sara Tanjga
I shall talk to you about how to live, so my singing it is imperative.
I know there's a group of people up there who just thought,
"What the hell are you doing, Ziga?!"
The organizers are giving me the stink eye as well. But first of all, let me tell you
that my childhood dream has been to stand on the Opera stage and sing in front of a full audience.
The image in my dreams was slightly different: standing ovations, applause, teddy bears at my feet,
and I was given flowers. Anyway, thanks, it is a lovely present.
Namely, I was 28 on Friday and this is a present to me from myself.
I know you had to suffer a bit and that I can't sing
but on the other hand, I made one of my wishes come true.
To start with this -- In life, it's important to understand, how short life is.
My favourite way to make lifespan explicit is using a meter.
Here's number 75 -- and that's the average lifespan of Slovenian men.
I just turned 28, so this here is what's left of my life.
Now you name one reason why I shouldn't fulfill my wishes and keep on living my dream.
The basic question: "Ziga, what are you doing?",
used to be the hardest one for me. What do you mean, what am I doing?!
Everything and nothing, probably because of some guilty conscience lurking inside.
It reminded me of this: "Now, who's this little fella?"
If kids haven't told you yet - unless they are lost, this is the stupidest question
you could ever ask a child, so stop doing it.
And even if they do get lost, ask them their name, surname and where they live.
That's approximately how I felt, when they asked me what I do. Everything and nothing.
I wrote a book, founded the Ypsilon Institute, we united Slovenia with Simbioza for the second time,
and if necessary, we joined UNICEF in Africa to try to help them resolve poverty issues.
You might say my talk was about the clichés.
True. But when you go through what I have, you realize that life may just as well be based on clichés.
They are so plain, we don't even hear them, let alone understand them.
Emptying my fridge at 11pm was a vice, sleeping 3 hours a night became a kind of habit to me.
I worked non-stop and wouldn't listen to anyone. Until it happend -- A "BOOM" here is apppropriate
that would shake you up. Like it shook me, lying on preventive ultrasound check-up
and they told me I had a tumor on my kidney. Tumor? Me? Why me?
Tumor at the age of 27? Tumors don't happen to young people.
It was. My diagnosis was "malignant neoplasm of kidney".
A rather interesting experience, resulting in 6 months of sick leave.
But it came with an array of stories and lessons that I'd like to share with you.
I was told to make my talk very personal today.
I went through the most embarrasing experience of my life
and I truly hope it never happens to me again.
I hesitated to talk about it. Because you're a large crowd, and this it is going to Youtube,
and then the whole world will find out. Yet, if I share this now, not much worse can hit me in life.
So I decided to do it.
Ladies, you have more experience with gynaecologists than men with urologists.
I enter the urologist office. A young assistant stands in the corner, and the urologist seems nice.
The curious chair is there. I sit on it. They stop me. I have to undress my pants.
OK, sure, I take them off. I'm convinced the doctor still doesn't realize what he did.
And he might find it pretty unusual, when he sees this.
I saddle the chair and spread my legs. He cups my manhood with his hands, looks at me, and says:
"We've met before, haven't we?"
Yes, doctor, now please let go of my balls and then we'll talk, OK?
But this is not the worst thing that happened to me.
I had the operation. When I returned from the operation room, I was so stoned,
that I tried to get the nurses on intensive care to dance tango with me.
A week after I began bleeding. I was bleeding for 18 days. I had blood transfusion.
My bladder got blocked 3 times and the ureter twice.
This is surely not the most tragic story ever.
I am very aware of it. Many people with similar stories are not among us anymore.
Perhaps this story is so special because it contains so many life lessons to learn from.
Life offers many lessons and a lot of experience to you as well.
It's up to you to learn how to understand and listen to them.
The first lesson - true meaning is in little things.
In our ability to laugh and sneeze.
In our ability to pee. I couldn't.
That's when you realize the actual importance of things we ignore.
Next lesson -- 'simple' does not imply 'self-evident''.
I was released from hospital because they thought I stopped bleeding.
I didn't. A blood clot clogged my ureter, so there was no visible blood, and I was sent home.
But when if not on a Sunday, my kidney blew up.
The pain was terrible, I was taken into emergency. I thought it was over for me.
The urologist explained later I felt something similar to labor pains.
A valuable experience, but I would find another way to appreciate women, too.
If this hadn't happened and I stayed home, I probably wouldn't have got the lesson.
So things that are simple are not self-evident.
Next lesson -- why is it so important to have friends, your support group?
They were the ones who realized that my blood wasn't coagulating properly.
I don't blame the doctors -- they are human as well -- and they forget things.
So it is very good to have support. Many heads are better than one.
So I also have my friends to thank that I survived.
Have I completely changed my life since then? No, absolutely not.
If someone claims to have done it, they are definitely lying.
It is impossible to change everything at once.
I chose three things that I never used to do. They are sacred to me now.
I sleep at least six hours a night, or seven, if not eight.
I have three meals a day. I should have five but once you only eat one meal at 11 pm,
three meals a day are solid progress.
And twice a week I put myself through a proper workout.
I learned to say no - well, to be honest, I am still learning.
If you ask me out for coffee and I say no, it's not because I don't love you.
It's because I learnt a lesson.
This doesn't mean - and I can't stress this enough - that I've changed.
I still believe, as Muhammad Yunus says, one day we will be able to put poverty in a museum.
But how can you change the world if you don't take care of yourself first?
This often resounds in my mind when, at times, I still work too much.
First and foremost, you have to love yourself the most in this world.
Even when it gets deeply personal and when it hurts.
In this time, I ended a personal relationship, and I still feel sorry because I hurt someone.
But who knows what would have happened to me, if I hadn't done it.
All these lessons have made me a better person today. And yes, I am in love again.
People ask me how these lessons can be used in business. It's simple.
If you are like me, then you are sure the world stops turning when you are not around.
I thought so, too, earlier. But Ypsilon Institute is better than ever,
and project Simbioza has united Slovenia again. My most important lesson
is to gather the best people around yourself. There are quite a few in here tonight, so I thank them
for picking up and carrying on successfully from where I perhaps just planted the first seed.
Health is our most precious possesion -- the biggest cliché from me tonight.
I even believe that it is our only precious possesion.
At 25, I found it strange when people wished me good health at New Year.
When they did it for my birthday I thought: "Really? Nothing more clever?"
After something like this, you realize it's the moments of solitude that count.
In the minutes of crying from laughter and in moments of pure happiness deep in our hearts.
Slovenian folktale is rich with valuable lessons.
One of them turns frogs into princes and princesses.
Why does there always have to be someone to kiss the frog?
Can't we simply kiss ourselves and turn ourselves in princes and princesses?
Here's the most important piece of information: my tumor was not malignant.
And news for you -- you don't have to go to hospital to understand all of this.
This was the good one. The bad one is that 99 % will have to go through it to understand.
It didn't help me when my parents and friends told me I was making a mistake,
that the whole world was telling me I was doing something wrong. I had to have the "BONG".
Indeed, life has given me the lesson of life.
I'm glad it happened at this very young age.
I'd like to thank all doctors, nurses, and medical staff, who cleaned after me.
Above all, I'd like to thank my friends who have always been there for me.
They brought asparagus and ham from home to me in hospital, and smuggled chocolate as well.
I thank my family who get me. In the end, thank you, universe, for this life lesson.
I believe I've learnt it well.
I really hope I've learnt it for good.