Chris Power

Transcript

I stood in the kitchen feeling the hard plastic brace on my leg and the pressure of wearing my shoes on the wrong feet trying to figure out the expression on my dad's face I've never seen that look on his face before he looked upset her disappointed or maybe even sad that's when he crouched down looked me in the eye and said Chris the doctors are giving up on you that's what I heard anyway I can hear the names the kids called me running through my through my mind crippled loser I could feel a knot forming in the pit of my stomach as a tear streaming

down my face I would never be normal my dad stood up and said we're not giving up you're going to fix this he said you're going to fix this by watching your feet my parents knew from a young age that I had serious trouble my when I was born both of my feet were severely turned in the doctors tried putting my feet and cast the plastic braces they tried special shoes and even putting my shoes on the wrong feet and and nothing would work so eventually they gave up and I was on my own the first couple of years were the worse no matter where

I was going what are what I was doing or who I was with I had to watch my feet and if I ever forgot or I was ever distracted as kids sometimes are my parents were quick to say watch your feet Christopher watch your feet if I looked up I would stumble if I ran I would trip I totally avoided games and sports with other kids because I was petrified that I would trip over my feet and land literally on my face so that's when my parents decided that it'd be a great idea to sign me up for soccer yeah that's right soccer so soccer

will be good for you they said you know you'll gain confidence and you'll make friends they said I know their hearts were in the right place but in the end it turned out to be the most torturous gruesome nine years of my life I remember one game in particular I I made my way to my usual spot on the bench you know smiling and nodding and looking like I was in conversations that I clearly was not i sat on the bench and I was wondering how is it possible to be sweating and have your hands and feet freezing at the same time like it's amazing

the impact that terror can have on you so it has some sort of obligation of my parents I'm sure my coach decided it was my turn to go on the field so we were up by one so you know what could go wrong I stood up and as I stood up the kid next to me leans over and it whispers under his breath don't mess this up I knew what he did what he meant he didn't have to explain so I looked down at my feet and I will then out into my position in the defense the least likely place to touch the ball or

saw so I thought the whistles blown the other team kicks the ball directly to yours truly so I panicked I took two very well planned steps and I kicked the ball as hard as I could at the same time completely wiping out and falling flat on my back as I laid there completely embarrassed trying to catch my breath I looked over my shoulder and I saw the other team's score on the net you see I tried to kick it down the field but it went directly out to the other player and they scored you know I I really messed everything up so over the years

I worked hard to correct the problem no matter where I was going what I was doing I kept watching my feet relentlessly until eventually I didn't have to anymore I can't tell you the exact moment that I no longer had to watch my feet because nothing had really changed I was the same sad lonely little boy I was no better at sports and I certainly had no more friends the braces weren't they had just become psychological laughter reviewing my life I can tell you that I stand before you today as a man that's finally gotten over those psychological braces I've marched as a commander of

400 troops in the Canadian military I've walked I've walked in the sands of Afghanistan with the Afghan police I've stood at 20,000 feet looking across at Mount Everest and I've stood on the beaches in Mexico and married the woman of my dreams you see all I ever had to do was look up that's it that's the answer I'd spent so much time looking down at my feet obsessing over them worried about them staring at them that I never once looked up to see where I was or how far I'd come it's too easy to focus on all the things that are wrong with us or

the things we don't like I mean we're constantly bombarded with images of what's perfect and beautiful what I've learned is that as long as you try to live up to someone else's definition of what beautiful what's beautiful and perfect you'll never be enough and you'll end up just standing there watching your feet I'm proud to say I'm standing here sharing my story with you I can see you I see a bunch of beautiful amazing supportive people here to learn and grow and that's the amazing thing is that in every moment we have a choice we get to choose the things that we pay attention to

what would your life be like if you today chose to focus on the things you love about yourself and the things that make you unique thank you

Transcript generated from the recording and lightly cleaned. Some names and wording may differ from the spoken speech.