 Good morning, my beautiful friends. I have an experience from yesterday that I really wanted to share with you guys. This video is actually going to be a very different video. I was just going to take you guys with me to the TED conference that I went to yesterday. I don't know if you guys watch TED speeches like I do, and we were just going to have a fun day and, you know, kind of vlog that event. But then something happened there actually twice that I thought was worth talking about. So let's just begin the day. I'm going to take you as we start, and then we're going to talk about what actually happened when I was there. Well, good morning, my beautiful internet friends. Today I am fulfilling a lifetime dream, like step one of probably like a 90-step process of fulfilling said dream. But I don't have a lot of things on my bucket list, like on a list of things that I want to do before I kick it, and not on this planet anymore. But one thing that I want to do is speak at a TED conference. If you don't know what a TED conference is, I'll put links to some of my favorite TED talks below. There's something about TED talks that I've always really enjoyed. I listen to them all the time, and it's like a dream of mine to be a TED speaker. So I've never actually gone to a TED conference. And so there's a TEDx event today in Colorado Springs. And I decided last minute to get tickets and go. My lovely friend Megan said she'd come with me, so she's going to drive me there. We're going to head over there pretty soon. And see what it's like. I've only ever seen TED conferences from the perspective of edited video afterwards. So I'm interested to see what the speakers are like in person, and what the kind of tone of it is. And who knows, maybe the people who run TED will someday see my videos and think I'm cool enough to speak. Don't worry, I'll do more cool things to actually earn being cool enough to speak at TED conference. So this is a step forward to achieving what I love in life, and I think today will be a lot of fun. So far, two people have congratulated me on showing up, on being here with my leg. I've never been in an environment where people are like that. It's actually kind of super sweet. A little awkward. Super sweet. Okay, so that clip right there was after the second time someone had said something to me, within the course of like three minutes. I was using the eye walk there. There wasn't a ton of walking, which was nice. I wasn't in a lot of pain yesterday, which was super awesome. I had my friend with me, which was a lot of fun and just great. And also it's nice to have someone with me in case anything happens. But more than I was just great to have her company. I wasn't having a hard time getting around. Like I wasn't visibly struggling. And we got there and we checked in, and then we went to get coffee. This lady came up to me and tapped on my shoulder and was like, I'm sorry to bug you. I just wanted to say your leg is beautiful. And I think it's so cool that you're out here doing stuff still. Like that you got out of the house and that you're here. And then she went on to say after that, you know, I actually have scoliosis. I know what it's like to look a little different than normal people. I know that can be challenging sometimes. And like way to be out here still. And I thought that was really sweet because she was speaking from a place of understanding. But still the comment, like it kind of planted the seed in my head. Like the comment of like, way to still be here doing stuff, way to like get out of the house. I was like, that bar is pretty low. That bar is pretty low. Sorry the lights changed and my puppies are outside and the drapes are like blowing in the wind. So I thanked her honestly. We had a sweet little conversation. And then Megan and I went to actually like give our tickets to the people and go into the theater. So we did that. And then there was a person there to like help you get to your seats if you needed help. This lady looked down and saw my leg and asked, you know, if we needed help or anything. And I was like, no, I think I'm good. Like I know where we're going. But I really appreciate it. Like I will let you know if we need any help or if I need any help. She looked kind of confused on how to talk to me. And then she said like the same thing the other lady had. And this was like on the other side of the building. It wasn't like she'd overheard that conversation. She was like, I think it's so cool that you're out here. You're doing things even though you're like that very clearly referring to my leg. And I was super nice, of course. And I was like, thank you so much. I really appreciate that. Like, you know, awesome. And I went on my merry way and I sat down. And let me just clarify that I am not the least but frustrated with either of these people. They were being very kind to me. They were like trying to say a nice thing. But in retrospect, thinking about it, they were congratulating me on like being a human. I'm like humaning. They were like impressed with me for adulting as an adult. They were impressed with me for like getting out of bed and showing up to an event that I'm perfectly capable of going to on a day that I wasn't struggling. If I had very clearly been struggling to like move or something like that, like maybe that would have been a different situation. But like I was okay. And I was clearly okay. And the only reason these people commented to me that like it was cool that I was out is because I looked different and I was still out in public. I thought that that was a fascinating comment on what we as a society think about people who look different. And again, please understand these people were being like really complimentary. They were being super nice to me and I appreciate that. But just made me think like what are we really saying here? Is the bar for me being impressive as a human being showing up? Or is that like is that is what words are hard? Is that what is required of me to do a good job? Be fair, sometimes that is like a big accomplishment for me. Depression sucks and sometimes it's really hard to get out of bed. But as an amputee, am I so impressive just because I'm living life? Like I'm a normal person because I am a normal person even though I'm missing a leg. And like yeah, it is a struggle to go out in public because I'm working through issues, but they don't know that. The only reason they said what they said is because I look different and I went outside. And it almost seems like a comment on the idea that like if you're different, not you shouldn't go outside but like maybe most people don't and it's such an accomplishment to do it anyways. And I don't think it's such an accomplishment to do it anyways. It's obviously been a struggle for me if you've watched my videos. It has been a personal journey for me to get comfortable going out in public. Sometimes it's been really hard because people stare. People look at you differently. That's uncomfortable. It does take courage some days. Like some days it's really hard but that's something that you face. That's something that you deal with. And I don't think the bar for being impressive should as an amputee be getting out of the house. I think the bar for being impressive should be doing something impressive. I don't know if that makes sense or not. And again, I am not in the least way saying anything negative about either of these lovely people who were super kind to me and tried to make my day better. And they did like they brightened my day. But also what they were saying like at the heart of it was a little bit uncomfortable. Let me know if any of that makes sense or if it doesn't. I'm not sure. I'm still kind of like pondering on it but I just thought it was an interesting comment. I do feel like the bar for me should be a little bit higher than being in public without a leg. Anyways, the TED conference itself was incredible. It was such an awesome experience to be there. Such a gift. It was such a gift. The speakers were amazing. And I think it was just cool to be able to be there and see how it works because we always see like the polished edited versions of TED speeches and those are polished and edited like people bank mistakes and then they'll go back and like repeat that line so that the version that everyone sees online is a lot more perfect than the original speech. And so it's cool to see people being people messing up words sometimes because we all do that. They were great speakers and I really got a lot from some of the talks and I also felt a lot more confident leaving that event that like, yeah, I can do this. I can totally do this. You know, I'm obviously not ready to talk on a TED stage today. There's work to be done but I feel like I belong there. Like that is the field that I should be in. I just 100% feel like that's the right direction for me. It was an awesome day. It was really cool to go. We got to have lunch with a random person I had never met before. We were walking over to have lunch and then we kind of ended up walking alongside this guy and struck up a conversation with him and then invited him to lunch and we all had like a deep good conversation and it's so cool. I love meeting people like strangers and then having meaningful conversations with them. That's one of my favorite things and so it was just a really cool day. So, Jesus, it was awesome to meet you. It was awesome to get to know you some. Yeah, it was one of the longest days that I've had since having my leg chopped out out and about doing stuff for about 12 hours and then I came home and then I left again for like another five. So I was exhausted by the end of it which means that I actually slept before 3 a.m. which was cool but it was a good day and definitely gave me a lot to think on with what people said to me and the speeches and all in all it was an amazing day. I am really interested to hear what you guys have to say about the comments that were made to me. How would you take those if they were said to you and what do you think they say about our society if anything? I would love to hear from you in the comment section. I'll chat with you guys there. I love you guys. I'm thinking about you. I'll see you tomorrow for Taboo Tuesday. Got a pretty cool topic tomorrow. I'll talk to you guys then. I love you. Bye, guys.