Orli's TEDx talk - Life, Laundry, Legacy

For many, many years now I’ve been saying that if I ever write an autobiography, it will be called “my life with laundry “, which is why, when I was invited to give a talk for the first ever Women’s TEDx event in Greystones I had no doubt laundry will play a major part in it.

The event’s theme was “And Still I Rise” - after the wonderful poem by the inspiring Maya Angelou. A topic that seemed like an easy one to write & talk about, but one of the things that the last year has taken from me was my ability to write, and I got stuck.
Completely stuck.
And the more I thought about it, the more I tried, the more stuck I became.

It wasn’t because of lack of challenges, in fact it might have been because there were too many of them, and I was struggling with the way to tell my story in a way that does justice to my life choices and fits TED.

See, I wasn’t aware of it, but TED has A LOT of rules, and all of them need to be followed to the letter. And anyone who met me knows I don’t do well with rules, especially not with the “you must” kind.

One of these rules is that you have to be inspiring, introduce a new idea, and make your audience think.
And right here lies one of the main culprits for me being stuck. I mean, what in my story can anyone find inspiring, or new, or thought provoking?

So after a good few weeks of being stuck and annoyed (ok fine, also a little bit annoying) I did something I can’t remember the last time I did, and I accepted help when it was offered.
The amazing Janie Lazar offered to sprinkle me with some of her magic, and a million coaching hours, soul searching and draft writing later - I had a talk.

Complete with laundry, chocolate, and a reference to Dr. Seuss.

But having a talk on paper is just the first step. TEDing is about being able to stand in front of a room full of people and tell your story, no pulpit, no notes, not even a handheld microphone. Just you and the red dot.
It’s in the rules.

So practice is key. And there’s only so many times people are willing to listen to the same thing, which is how I found myself spending about 6 weeks talking to the laundry, the dinner salad, and the cleaning supplies.
And it was still completely terrifying to stand on that red dot and feel so very exposed.

Being on TEDx is a huge honour and privilege, so I wanted to take a moment and thank the people who had to put up with my incessant annoyingness until it was done - Hidai of course (but he has to so it doesn’t count), Janie, Mark O'Connor and the Media Mill team who did the video, Jill Lush who invited me, and Audrey Stenson who was my anxiety friend :)

And because all of this experience was a lesson in following the rules and stepping out of my comfort zone, why should the end of the post be any different? So I blame TED, but really would very much appreciate it if you could please click the link to watch (even a part of it), and like it (if you do!)
Thank you 🙏