WEBVTT

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What if young women around the world

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were encouraged to be more

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rather than less?

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What if the focus shifted

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from how we appear

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to the possibilities of what we can do?

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As a young woman, I live in a world

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where I'm constantly bombarded
with messages to be less,

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to eat less, to wear less, to be skinnier,

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to shrink my ambitions to fit in,

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to wait for my Prince Charming
to come and save me,

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or to avoid activities that are for boys

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because I'm not strong enough or as tough.

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These messages fuel
my fears and insecurities.

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I am then left wondering all the time

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whether I'm good enough
or whether I should just play it safe

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so I don't end up
making myself look silly.

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But imagine

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if all the young women
in a particular country

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took one step forward
in terms of the level of belief

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in their own possibilities.

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How much brighter
would the future of that country be?

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Now imagine if all
the young women on this planet

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took that same step forward
in their thinking

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as to what is possible for themselves.

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How much brighter would the future
of our world be for everyone?

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That's adventurous thinking.

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And by the way, it is so much more fun
to try and be more rather than less.

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In April this year, at the age of 14,

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I became the youngest person -
male, or female - in history

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to have skied to the North Pole
from anywhere outside the Last Degree.

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(Applause)

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Thank you.

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(Applause)

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Thank you.

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It was also the longest journey
to the Pole by any woman on the planet

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in the last two years.

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(Applause)

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Thank you.

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I dragged a sled that was as heavy as me,
over a distance of a 150 kilometers

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as measured in a straight line
from the Pole, on skis,

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in minus 30 degree temperatures.

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A hundred and fifty Ks
might not sound too bad,

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until you understand the environment
up there on the Arctic Ocean.

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We had to never get our way
around or over compression zones

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where sea ice has collided
to create ice rubble,

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and sometimes, this ice rubble
can become walls of ice meters high.

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We also had to find out our way
around open water leads,

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where the sea ice's split.

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Where we couldn't,
we had to build a bridge with our sleds,

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or someone would swim across
in an immersion suit,

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while the rest of us were pulled across
on a raft made from our sleds.

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We were traveling on floating sea ice,

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so the ocean currents
kept drifting us off-course,

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and we were often hearing
the sea ice crack beneath us

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and wondering
whether we would fall through

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into the freezing ocean below.

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We also crossed polar bear tracks,

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and would stay awake at night
listening for them,

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not that we could sleep well anyway,

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as it is 24-hour daylight up there
this time of year.

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And I'm not a skier either.

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I only learned how to ski the year before,
on a three-day trip to New Zealand.

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(Laughter)

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There's not much snow where I live

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so I trained virtually every day
for over a year beforehand,

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including by dragging tires around,
which was pretty close to the real thing.

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So, as you can imagine,
the going was slow and hard.

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Aside from a few blisters, I lost
the feeling in the tips of my fingers,

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which eventually came back

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after all the skin
had died and peeled off.

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And the worst part of all, I got frostnip
on my upper thigh and my bum

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from having to expose myself
to the freezing cold and wind

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every time I went to the toilet.

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(Laughter)

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But I loved it.

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It was the best experience
of my life so far,

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and I fell in love with this beautiful
yet fragile part of our planet.

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And as much as I couldn't wait to get home
and see my family and friends,

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I was really sad to leave.

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Next April, my plan is to ski
540 kilometers across Greenland

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at age 15,

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and then, at the end of next year,

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ski 1,170 kilometers from the coast
of Antarctica to the South Pole,

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and by then, I'll be 16.

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If I can get there,
aside from a few minor records,

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I'll be the youngest person
to ski to both Poles

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and to complete the Polar Hat Trick.

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So, what have I learned
in my brief life so far

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that might be worth sharing?

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I have learned that all those messages
I received daily to be less are wrong.

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I have learned that by expanding my dreams

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it has been impossible
to think about shrinking.

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Instead of focusing on how we look,

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let's focus on what our bodies
and our minds can do

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and discover the incredible possibilities

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that we are capable of
and can contribute to this world.

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There is nothing wrong
with wanting to improve your physique,

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but the problem is when people sacrifice
their capability or their health

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for the sake of fitting into

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some visual standard
shaped by other people.

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Let's make it about 
what you do not how you look.

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If you think about it,

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the funny thing about many
popular fitness social media accounts

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is that they post pictures of themselves

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standing in front of a mirror
doing nothing.

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(Laughter)

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That's not inspiring.

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That's just trying to make
the rest of us all feel bad.

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I think it's much more inspiring

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to see photos and videos of people
actually doing something.

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Thank you.

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(Applause)

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So how do we change things?

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How do we shift our focus?

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For me, when I see other women
go forward despite fear,

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I learn what is possible.

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There are some amazing examples

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of young women in history
choosing to be more.

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But just as amazing to me

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are the girls who manage to work
part-time while studying

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to support their families;

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girls who stand up
for what they believe in;

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girls who get up in the dark each morning,

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to train, to be the best
at the sport they love;

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girls who stay up late studying hard
to make the most of their education;

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any girl who refuses to buy into
the messaging to be less.

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So if you are my parent, my relative,
my teacher, or my coach,

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then I'm talking to you.

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Don't be overprotective of me
just because I'm a girl.

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Encourage me to take risks

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in chasing dreams 
that are important to me not to you.

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The sisterhood -

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let's celebrate the achievements
of our girlfriends.

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Don't cut them down!

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I've been amazed at the support
I have received from my friends.

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But most important of all,
we must start with ourselves.

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We are our own worst enemies.

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We need to get out of our own way

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and stop caring so much
about what other people think.

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The truth is everybody else
is worried about

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what everybody else thinks about them.

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We need to focus on
what we want for ourselves

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in line with our own personal values

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not those of our parents, or our friends,
or of the school we attend.

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Don't do it for others, do it for you.

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To expand what we believe is possible,
we must have courage.

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We must be prepared and willing to fail.

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Don't wait until you think
you can do something perfectly,

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just get started.

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I had really only being skiing once
in my life before,

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and then I tried to ski to the North Pole,

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which is pretty funny
when I stop and think about it.

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(Laughter)

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I also tried peeing standing up
using a pee funnel in minus 20 degrees

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and I failed miserably.

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(Laughter)

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I spent the rest of the day

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skiing in pants that were covered
in my own frozen pee.

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(Laughter)

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Courage is not the absence of fear

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but the willingness to take action

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despite the presence
of fear or self-doubt.

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Without bravery, our lives remain small.

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So let's all commit to take
one step forward

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in our thinking and our expectations

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as to what is possible
for young women to achieve.

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Let's constantly check ourselves

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that we are focusing on
what we can do not how we appear.

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All those small steps will soon add up,

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and we will collectively expand
what is possible for young women

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and as a result,
for the future of our world.

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Thank you.

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(Applause)