Transcriber: Irfan Shaji Alamana Reviewer: Samridh Aggarwal
Hi, everyone. I'm very, very happy to be here,
and I would like to introduce myself first. I'm the.
I'm 19 and I'm a content creator, but an influencer.
I make YouTube videos and Instagram Reels and I have a podcast. I'm Venecia.
I'm 19 and I'm a college student.
I'm a third manager with many, many, many assignments and a fair amount of school.
I'm Venecia, I'm 19 and I'm a young adult.
And these yours are supposed to be the best year of my life regularly
or to talk about my identity crisis. I'm kidding, but not so much, actually.
I age really 16 to 20 years old,
where at the prime of just trying to figure ourselves out.
So it technically is one big generational identity crisis when growing up.
Firstly, figuring ourselves out, figuring out environment out,
figuring what we like out, we're figuring the people around us out and importantly,
understanding the reality of having to be someone in this world.
And that's a lot of pressure.
And honestly, the COVID situation isn't making it any easier.
I know that some of us may not act like we feel that pressure,
but I feel like that's only because we're not short about anything.
For example, I don't know who or where I want to be in five years from now.
And honestly, I'd rather look like I'm nonchalant and that I don't care,
then look absolutely clueless because absolutely clueless is who I am.
Let me give you an example. I have this friend. Let's call her ex Exxon Mobil.
These five instruments. She can sing. She can dance. She's got amazing.
Grades X even ended up getting into an Ivy League with a full scholarship.
And I promise you, X is. In fact, x and that overachieving, said Magic Ebadi,
who your parents won't stop comparing ourselves to.
No offense to any timers in the audience.
But, you know, X is also the same person who looks at me and says,
Then you should be clear, I wish I was achieving something.
And in that moment, besides wanting to actually annihilate X,
I also wanted to hug her and tell her that it's not her phone on my phone.
And I find that this society romanticized its success to
the extent that anything that's less than remarkable is a failure,
which isn't exactly sad because we're just kids and
the same people in this valley society tell us things like Don't detention are
better. You're only 19. You figure it out and they're right.
But these words and don't exist the other.
And this happens because our immediate response,
or at least my immediate response to this person in our heads of causes,
it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter if I'm 19.
I want my life to go dark right now and I want it to be exceptional.
Then, of course, we have our overachieving challenges kids who may
or may not see or do anything to us for their success.
And Dawn also puts that pressure on us.
If you guys know who Billie Eilish is, which I'm sure you do.
Billie Eilish is the ultimate show, Maggie's kid. Billie is 19 years old.
She's won 10 Grammys and has a net worth of twenty five million dollars.
Twenty five million dollars. Let that sink in. She's 19. I'm nineteen.
Here we go. The pressure's already seeping in.
Then again, someone can look at my tiny YouTube channel and think you're 19,
you're doing something as well because this has happened in the bus
and that gave me a lot of reassurance.
So I want to look at you guys in the audience and say.
You are attending dead talks in a school that you wouldn't believe me.
You're doing something right and preparing yourself in
a life full of success. I promise you,
if you are studying right now or working on something small, no matter how small,
you are definitely going somewhere because that's going to take you to
a point where you will figure out your game plan because none of it is
for nothing. We're all just trying and learning,
and that is what is important.
Also, if you are Irshad Manji skin, then this talk is in for you. Please leave.
I'm joking. But to put it in perspective,
I always felt like I was the most average kiddo.
Very honestly, I felt like this person who is good at singing this personal.
Is a great dancer. This person who has exceptional grace and then
the other person is good at sports and don't get me wrong,
I never really felt like I was bad or I was less.
I just felt like I was just average.
I was just okay at everything, and I was shocked.
At least someone in the audience has felt like that at some point.
But now I realize it's not that I didn't have anything at all.
It's just that I have something and I hadn't figured it out yet.
And the same goes for anyone in the audience like I did. You have nothing.
You just haven't found it yet. But you most most definitely will.
When I was just starting out with my content,
the idea wasn't for it to be doing something.
I was literally just trying on something that I thought I might like.
I'll be honest, I didn't even think I was good at it.
I mean, come on, it's not like social media is some sort of all just
on Android. I don't even know what it is today,
but there's definitely something in me that drives me to want to do this
everyday again. I had no idea that this is something I could ever consider as
a hobby, let alone a career.
I just knew that deep down, maybe I'd like it if I tried it.
Maybe this game was for anyone listening to this,
though you may not have to be
the best at something that you genuinely want to try out.
But the drive in you will make sure you get somewhere if your mind set to top
you with it. If you have something in mind that you could possibly be thinking
of right now and you're unsure if you should take it up or try,
this is your sign that you should.
As ironic as it is, I am here to be that one annoying weirdo Boston,
who says normally only between the ages of 16 to 20,
you have a whole life ahead of figured it out.
But this time I want it to resonate with you
because you are already figuring it out and it's leaving.
You do what you need to be for now. Just jog whatever you want.
You never know what would work and what won't.
You know how there are some ladies who keep saying, You know,
I never thought I'd be in this cardio field. The same applies to us.
You never know where life will take you and what doors you open up for yourself.
So might as well just out what you want do again,
whether or not you feel like you'd be going at it. Just try it.
So I, you figure things out. Remember to take a breather every now and then?
The truth is when the generation that believes in mental health so strongly.
But then the second it comes to us selves,
we're not as good as taking care of our mental health.
But one way of taking care of yourself is to listen to your heart sometimes.
I'm not going to give you guys too much ground.
No, I make 15 second videos and think I want somebody to do success.
But whether or not the latter is true for me,
I know for the fact that it is true for you.
I want to end this by telling you all.
Like I said earlier, trust me, you're doing something right,
and the fact that you are listening to this is already
a manifestation of what life is bringing to you.
I can guarantee you that individually your own thing will work for you
because it already is. Just be patient and try not to be too hard on yourself.
We're all here for a reason, and yours is just beginning to unfold.
So don't worry, we're done. You have your whole life ahead of you. Thank you.