Think of a line.
It has a beginning, a middle and an end.
You start your trip. You live, you play, dance, laugh, cry, talk, ask, wonder, you show, you grow. Your people love you, they pay attention to you, take care of you, help you, they are there every moment to admonish you, to advise you, to listen to you, to support you and motivate you.
All these things gradually create pictures in your head. Pictures that are mental, with colors and people, feelings and voices, scenes of the past that you run back to for some advice, support, triggers and inspiration.
What causes you that need? Life itself; parents, siblings, teachers, classmates, friends, teams or even a poster, a post, an announcement, an article, an advertisement; something that will force your glance to turn to that and your mind to capture the idea.
Now. Now you see the light. You hear the “clicking sound” for creation. Now the memories and the knowledge lead you back to the starting point: the spark.
The unexpected glow, the trigger, the motive that leads you through.
As all the fires start with a spark, so does the fire of TEDxAUTH this year that will light up again. Our pre-event, with the theme “SPARKS”, is the start of our need for creation.
What is the “spark” for us though?
For Zeta, our Experience Coordinator, the spark is “the driving force, the trigger to achieve dreams that have no limit!”
For Dimitra, our Experience Coordinator, spark is “the thing that will drive you to get out of your comfort zone, take the risk you never dared to take- and in the end, it will lead you somewhere really nice!”
For Maria-Christina, our Experience Manager, spark is “perseverance, the decision to change her life!”
For Eva, our Graphic Designer Assistant, spark is “this little voice inside of her that pushes her to do whatever crosses her mind!”
For Aggeliki, our Marketing Director, spark is “the satisfaction I get when I achieve the little milestones of my everyday life, which help me evolve to a better version of me!”
What is your “spark” though?
N. told us “every time I do something I love, that I’m passionate about, I feel a spark inside me to create. I have now connected this spark with my love for life and expression and I can’t imagine my everyday life without it. Every time I work with other people to create something beautiful and special my spark converts into a flame that lights up and keeps my soul and imagination warm!”
P. told us “I felt the spark when I took my first photo! Actually, when I touched my camera for the first time! I haven’t stopped taking photos, seeing and feeling through my camera lens since then! Now I’m studying photography and I want to be successful in that. To everyone out there, I urge us to follow our dreams and not let anyone or anything blow out the spark inside of us!”
S. told us that “a spark marks every new beginning for me. From the moment I begin to think about creating, living, without fearing time, right then it’s when I feel the spark inside of me, that makes me start doing what I love and keep doing it until it’s finished. And once the circle is complete, the spark that I felt in the beginning will have become something even bigger!”
X. said “for me the spark is the power that makes you want to change everything, to make a turn of 180 degrees. Spark is what you feel when you look at them and they look at you at the same time and you think that you could set the whole world on “fire”! We all have that power, it just takes something special to rekindle it!”
So, for me the spark is this thing. The thing that will come and make you forget anything bad. The thing that will come and signal a new start. You want it to be a piece of advice from your parents? You want it to be a trip with your siblings? You want it to be the holidays with your friends? A lyric? A book? A new artist? An evening with yourself? Love?
Whatever you think about, wherever your mind goes, whenever it happens to you, if you are wondering if it’s a “spark”, the answer is YES!
Shout it out loud to yourself, make the people around you hear it, write it, paint it.
There’s nothing objective as to what is your “spark”. And that’s its magic!
We are waiting for you on Tuesday 28/02 at 18:00 at bord de l’eau, to discover together all the “sparks” we have hidden deep inside of us!
