2020 is on its way out. A year of relentless bad news, shocking headlines, and complex challenges that felt impenetrable and irreversible. As we move towards the new year, what is your vision for the future? Is it beaming with solutions and possibilities? Or, is it clouded by forest fire smoke and racial injustice? Can you even see anything at all? We sat down as a team to discuss our vision as an organization and how we can move forward together.
TEDxMileHigh invites you to join us for our virtual event this winter, TEDxMileHigh: Vision. You can register for the event on December 5th here.
In the meantime, we encourage you to look inward and reflect. There is no denying the irony that perfect vision is 20/20. Can you see the future clearly? Or, has 2020 left you blind and confused? What is your vision and what does it mean to you?
TEDxMileHigh’s Vision: How We Move Forward Together
Three Guides
We realize there is no perfect blueprint as we move forward. However, at TEDxMileHigh, we find clarity and direction from these three guides: humility, curiosity, and ingenuity.
1. Humility
We don’t have all of the answers. No one does. It takes humility to admit that you cannot solve all of the problems. We are continuously humbled by our community of speakers who bring bold, innovative ideas to our events and inspire others to think differently. As fellow answer-seekers, we also respect our community of audience members who show up to listen with an open mind and willingness to learn.
It is with this humility that we can all understand that each one of us might not individually have all the answers, but together we might.
2. Curiosity
TEDxMH is built on curiosity. What if we focused on forgiveness rather than punishment? What if we made children’s education easier to navigate for parents? How might the sex-lives of fish be proof of a climate crisis? These are questions that our speakers have asked (and answered) in the past. This is the type of curiosity we encourage and hope to perpetuate as we move forward together.
3. Ingenuity
“Think differently,” a major part of the TEDxMH vision statement. We need to continue to be curious about our questions and creative with our solutions. While new in form, some of the challenges we faced this year are not new in nature. Forest fires devastated land from Australia to the west coast of the U.S., but there have been wildfires in the past. COVID-19 hit the world on a global scale, but there have been outbreaks before.
What we need to focus on now is why these challenges have stood the test of time. Clearly, we need to be looking for solutions in different places, and challenging each other to, say it with me, think differently.
#2020isntcancelled
This hashtag has made its way around the social media world, and we couldn’t agree with it more. We considered this concept when we explored what it means to rise for our most recent virtual event, TEDxMileHigh: Rise. To rise is to change, and a lot of change comes out of dark places. In other words, the tragedy that sparked a revolution. The lowest point we could possibly reach before someone said “no more.”
The topic of Vision is all about moving forward together, but we cannot move on without acknowledging the past. This year has been hard. It’s been sad and lonely and has felt, at times, pointless. But, we cannot forget what has happened. We cannot forget the lessons we have learned, or they will happen again.
“Yeah, but…” Syndrome
Picture this. You just attended a TEDxMH event and are completely inspired by a speaker’s new idea. Perhaps you’re inspired to study disaster relief and join Sarah Tuneberg in her efforts to bring awareness to disaster preparedness. Or, maybe your eyes were opened to the horrors that are immigration prisons, and you’re ready to join César García Hernández in abolishing them.
Regardless, you’ve been inspired. You’ve had time to think, and you’re on the brink of a solution that could help solve a global problem. You can’t contain your excitement, so you tell your friend your new idea. Their response? “Yeah that’s good, but…(insert unenthusiastic, discouraging remark here).” Your friend suffers from the “Yeah, but” syndrome, and it’s killing innovative, creative ideas everywhere.
Every new idea was deemed impossible until someone came along and shared a new reality.
At TEDxMileHigh, we believe that shark skin can be the inspiration behind new techniques to keep medical equipment sanitary.
We believe that anyone, regardless of healthcare or immigration status, can receive quality, timely medical care.
And, we believe that the possibilities don’t end there. We invite you to share your dreams and your big ideas, no if’s, and’s, or but’s about it. We promise.
What Is Your Vision?
These three pillars will be the foundation of our team’s vision. But, we need to move forward together, and everyone has their own way of doing that. We invite you to share your vision. How are you going to move forward? Whether you know the answer or not, join us in December as we build our vision together.
