What would you do if you were a fifteen year old high schooler with a brilliant idea in your mind; but the thoughts were vetoed by 199 out of the 200 professors whom you reached out. And not only that, one of the professors rebutted your thesis point-by-point, proving why your ideas are at fault. Would you conclude that your idea is not that brilliant after all or would you persist through?

My girl's teacher introduced to her a series of teen's TED talks and this one by Jack Andraka particularly caught her attention. Here are her words:

Jack's talk captured my attention because he didn't really know what a pancreas was; and yet, he turned out finding the cure for pancreatic cancer. It is especially amazing that he didn't give up when he got so many rejections. If I were him, I would've given up.

Jack concludes his talk with these words,

through the Internet, anything is possible. Theories can be shared, and you don't have to be a professor with multiple degrees to have your ideas valued. It's a neutral space, where what you look like, age or gender — it doesn't matter. It's just your ideas that count.

We all have dreams. Dreams, like seeds buried underground, take intentional cultivation to nurture the growth. Just as a tiny seed needs to press through the soil to bud, so do ideas need to live through rejections. As a mom, I wanna challenge myself to always look out for the bright side when journeying with my kids; even when the whole world screams out loud and clear that "it is impossible!"

Here is the link of Jack's talk, a teen with amazing tenacity. Check it out. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-ycQufrgK4