The courage to believe
At the 2024 Speaker Slam® Grand Slam, the Inspirational Speaking Finals held at CBC Glenn Gould Studio in Toronto, Maya Woronicz delivered “The courage to believe”.
Transcript
okay let's all join together for a quick moment follow my lead and put our hands on our heads now touch your nose and look to the person next to you and make a silly face congratulations you have just experienced a day in my life and what it feels like being bossed around by a toddler I started my parenting Journey May 4th 2021 I just given birth to a little girl and I'm finally resting in the hospital bed so my partner Matt he looks at me and goes babe what do you want to eat anything I'll have it delivered I wanted pizza but pizza from my
favorite restaurant a little while later it finally comes Matt's holding this pizza box and his eyes are glowing knowing Mama's about to eat he walks over leans in and goes ready babe 1 2 3 slowly opens the pizza box we both look down it's frozen a frozen uncooked Pizza yeah that glow in his eyes quickly turned to sheer Panic he looks over at me and I start sobbing the poor man he's just trying to do his best but instead the moment when he opened that pizza box a feeling of disappointment hit but it's not because the pizza was frozen because suddenly in that moment I
realize my life will never look the same the room starts spinning I feel this weight wash over me and I have this pit in my stomach I just can't shake I'm not meant to be a mom we've all heard of the term it takes a village but what nobody warned me about was the struggle with self-identity and self-doubt everything changes when we become parents our routines our bodies relationships and careers yet we're just supposed to jump in with two feet act like nothing's changed we just have another little human tagging along like no big deal but I felt like the existence of me vanished because
I no longer felt like Maya anymore about a year later I remember looking over at my daughter she's sitting there on the floor playing with a bunch of salad bowls putting them on her head and giggling and I remember thinking when did I stop playing when did life become so serious and when did I start feeling like I wasn't enough and the truth is it was way before I became a mom I have evolved more in the last 3 years than the previous 10 all because I started believing in myself and having fun again I signed up for courses I didn't feel smart enough to
take I started my own business I even tried horseback riding lessons for the first time in my life in my 30s the existence of me never vanished when I became a mom it vanished when I stopped believing in myself so when did you realize that you stopped believing in yourself was it when you didn't apply for the job you really really wanted but thought I'm not going to get the interview anyway or when you asked a question and someone made you feel stupid maybe you wanted to sign up at the gym again but backed out cuz you were too worried about other people looking at
you I was playing the question game with my daughter the other day she's three by the way I look at her and I said Luna where did you come from and she goes um the dollar store I'm like I don't know if we need to talk about self worth or if I go to the dollar store too much now I'm not going to ask you where you came from we all know how babies are made but what I do want to know is where are you headed and are you brave enough to make that silly face and believe in yourself along the way thank you
one speech can change your life Unleash Your power embrace the stri Inspire the world let your story flow as Speaker SL let your spirit
Transcript generated from the recording and lightly cleaned. Some names and wording may differ from the spoken speech.