WEBVTT

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I would like to start today by asking
a very personal and sincere question.

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I don't want you to answer out loud
or to put up your hands,

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but I do want you
to take your time and reflect.

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Do you spend some time

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thinking about the life
that you're trying to build,

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the life that you're building?

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Where do you want to go
in the short term, in the long term?

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Do you think about this,

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or are you mostly reactive
to whatever life brings you?

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If you're not quite there yet,
where you want to be,

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do you feel it's because you were
not given the right opportunities,

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or maybe you did not really take advantage
of the opportunities given?

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How come some people with equal
or even less opportunities than us

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manage to build extraordinary lives,
while others struggle?

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Today I'd like to challenge the way
you think about uncertainty

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and how you can use it as a tool
to get to know yourself better

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and build the life
you consider worth living.

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I'm originally from southern Argentina,

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in South America,

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and like many people in this room
and many people in my generation,

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I've always been a big-time dreamer.

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I've always wanted to travel the world,

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meet people from every corner,
live in different continents.

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Yet I thought I was just unlucky.

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I just didn't land that type of life.

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That's okay.

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I was going through
a very dreadful routine.

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I was studying in university, economics,
and I had to keep grades above average

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in order to keep my scholarship
to keep on studying,

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and at the same time,
I was working two jobs -

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not one, but two - while studying.

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So just to say that I was very stressed
is a complete understatement.

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I was completely burnt out.

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And I remember particularly
one evening walking back from work.

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Work was about two hours away
from where I live.

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So, it was around 11:00 at night.

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And I remember thinking,
"Man, can't wait to be 40.

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Can't wait to be 40 years old
and just have a stable job.

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I don't care how dull it is,
I just clock in, clock out.

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It allows me to pay rent.
That's all I need."

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And then it hit me, and I stopped.

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What kind of twenty-year-old
wishes to be 40?

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Is this the life
that I'm building for myself:

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all the dreams of traveling the world
I'm going to give up before even trying?

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It was then and there
that I decided I had to leave.

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So I quit my jobs, dropped my scholarship,
dropped out of university.

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I moved to Denmark to look for 
a better present and future.

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And I found it. Denmark is amazing.

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I remember upon arriving
to this completely new experience

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thinking in myself,

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"I'm going take every single opportunity
to do something new.

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I'm going to build the life
that I want to live."

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And I did.

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After three years, I graduated

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from one of the most prestigious
degrees in the country.

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I built startups that allowed me
to travel around Europe

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to workshops and conferences.

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I started playing rugby,
became a Danish rugby champion.

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Above all, I managed to surround myself
with people that I loved deeply.

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I finally found the growth, enjoyment
and stability I was so much longing for.

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I was finally living my dream.

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Yet I decided to leave
everything behind again

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and this time moved to China.

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Now, why China?

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Well, I really don't know.

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I never been to China before.
I never been to Asia, actually.

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The closest I got at the time
was Athens, in Greece.

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Also, to be honest,
I didn't have a fascination with China,

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I just didn't know anything,

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and that was a motivator
good enough to come and try it out.

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And if switching continents
was not adventurous enough,

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I decided to go all-in.

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So I moved from Copenhagen
to Beijing all the way by train.

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Now, of course,

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there's no direct train ride
from Copenhagen to Beijing,

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so it took me across several cities
in several countries,

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from Denmark to Sweden, Finland,
all Russia, Mongolia, northern China,

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until arriving in Beijing.

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A journey that took me
from small, sleepy, little Russian towns

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to running of a bear in a Siberian forest,
to living with nomads in Mongolia.

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Life-changing experiences that took me
roughly a bit over a month to complete.

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Now, I guess many of you
are asking yourself a very fair question:

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"Why?"

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Why would I leave
such an amazing lifestyle

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that had took me so much work
to build from scratch?

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I was finally living my dream,
and I was very aware of it.

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I thought of myself
as the happiest person in the world.

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Why want to leave that behind
and try to start again?

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In a place I have no idea about,

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in the completely opposite
end of the world,

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where I have no clue
how my well-being is going to be.

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Also, why do it by train?

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Why just not take a plane
like a normal human being?

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Why add an extra layer of risk
to this pretty uncertain scenario?

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And the answer for me
has been very clear.

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Uncertainty is always an opportunity.

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Think about this.

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In every decision that we make

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lies the opportunity of pushing
beyond our perceived limitations,

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and getting one step closer
to the person we wish to become.

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It is only by reaching
out of our comfort zone

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that were able to build
extraordinary lives,

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a life we consider worth living.

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I realize that how much
I learn about myself

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is proportionate to the risk I take.

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For me, a strong person is that one
who can thrive in the unknown.

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And I wanted that for myself.

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It became a craving, a pursuit in itself.

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To understand me better,
what I'm capable of,

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and where I want to go.

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Now, learning to enjoy
and thrive in the unknown,

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it doesn't happen overnight.

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It's not an aha moment
or something you do once.

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It's a process

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where each time you do something
you previously considered impossible -

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no matter how small, just something
that you haven't done before -

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it increases your confidence.

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Now, you did it.

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And it becomes your new standard,

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from where you judge yourself
and your decisions.

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It's a dynamic search

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where we're constantly learning
and rediscovering ourselves -

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what we like, what we don't like.

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Because who we were yesterday

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doesn't have to define who we are today

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and who we will be tomorrow.

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Life is in constant flux,
it's a never-ending movement,

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and that's the beauty of it,

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but you have to go out there and find it.

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The most life-changing experiences
you're ever going to live in your life

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are most definitely not going to come
knocking down your door.

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You have to expose yourself.

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Little by little, but consistently.

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It's a lifelong searching process.

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Now, I understand if many of you
agree with what I'm saying,

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but I know that this is
easier said than done.

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So, how can I start?

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Many of you probably
asking yourself, "How do I start?"

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And that's the trick.

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It doesn't really matter.

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You just have to start.

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Action inspires motivation.

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If you're caught in between your dream
and you don't know how to get there,

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just do something,
the very first easy next step.

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Let's say, you want to study abroad
and you don't have the means,

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there's plenty of
scholarships pages online.

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Just create a free account
in one of those pages.

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Just do the very first thing.

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In that you will find
the motivation to do the next thing

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and then the next thing
and then the next thing,

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until you find your way.

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Every decision is the right decision.

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If you're caught
in between hard decisions,

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the issue is not choosing
the wrong option.

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You see, that's the thing
with hard decisions.

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They're hard because
there's no clear best option.

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Otherwise it wouldn't be hard.

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The issue is not choosing at all
and being paralyzed by fear of change.

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Once, I remember, I had a conversation
with a good old friend of mine,

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and it's a conversation we had
repeatedly over the years

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with people who have
loads of opportunities,

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yet they decide to be stuck
behind the fear of change -

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they decide to be.

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So my friend is very happy to see me,

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goes like, "Patrick,
you're living my dream,

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when I open Instagram,
you're in a different place in the world.

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I always think, I'm going to join you
next time you do it."

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And I go, "Yeah, it's pretty great,
so why don't you do it?"

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I know he can.

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And then he enumerates a list of reasons -

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very fair claims:
university, job, family, friends -

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to justify himself why he's not
out there chasing his dream.

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And I always think -

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it's very fair, I'm nobody to judge,

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and this might sound to be a bit rough -

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but we are responsible
for our own happiness.

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Grabbing the bull by the horns,

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I'm building the life
you consider worth living,

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it is also a sacrifice.

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It's not always an easy ride,

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but it's the only way
you can push fear aside

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and get closer to the person
you wish to become.

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To wrap things up,

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I'd like to challenge
your perception of uncertainty,

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from a mentality of risk and scarcity

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to one of abundance and opportunity.

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Uncertainty is a precious opportunity.

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Embrace it.

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Be friends with it.

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And you will see how a whole
new world of incredible options

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open before your eyes -

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just because you dare to change.

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Use it as a tool
to get to know yourself better,

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to build self-love

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and to get one step closer
to building the life you want to build.

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Because in the end, we are responsible
for the lives we build for ourselves.

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Thank you very much.

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(Applause)