Volver a la poesía para volver a mí | Priscilla Gómez | TEDxPanamaCity

Quick Overview

Priscilla Gómez shares her personal journey of overcoming self-doubt and internal barriers to embrace her passion for poetry, ultimately leading her to launch her own successful podcast and find joy in creating art and community, despite initial feelings of inadequacy and external pressures.

Key Points: Gómez was convinced early in life (age 6) by a teacher that her poetry was good, but she still placed mental barriers on herself. The speaker established a personal project, a podcast titled "Días de mi vida," featuring poets and writers. The pandemic in 2020 heightened her feeling of uncertainty, leading her to realize she needed something to bring her peace, which she found in her art. She launched her podcast on January 8, 2021, featuring poetry and writers from her community, including Ricardo Cárdenas. Gómez, who is an electronic and telecommunications engineer, initially struggled with the idea of presenting her creative work publicly, fearing it wasn't 'good enough' or that she lacked the necessary skills. She overcame these barriers by focusing on her purpose and realizing that art and culture make better people and build better societies.

Context: Priscilla Gómez delivers a personal narrative at a TEDxPanamaCity event, detailing her transformation from an individual who doubted her own creative abilities, particularly in poetry, to someone who actively pursued her passion. She recounts the influence of external feedback and the personal crisis brought on by the 2020 pandemic, which spurred her to launch a podcast focused on literature and art.

Detailed Analysis

Priscilla Gómez recounts her lifelong relationship with poetry, starting from positive reinforcement in primary school that she was good at writing poetry, which was later contradicted by internal self-doubt and societal pressures. She describes setting up mental barriers, feeling unworthy of sharing her work, especially when she didn't see herself reflected in the poets she admired, like the Nicaraguan poet Ernesto Cárdenas. The uncertainty of the 2020 pandemic served as a catalyst, forcing her to seek internal peace, which she found by leaning into creative endeavors. This led to the launch of her podcast, "Días de mi vida," in January 2021, which featured local poets and writers. She shares that even though she is an engineer by training, she realized her purpose lay in art and culture, which she views as essential for building better societies. She overcame the fear of judgment by realizing that the joy and fulfillment derived from her creative work were more important than external validation, and she actively sought opportunities to connect with others through her art.