Finding Your Inner Pilot | Rebecca Hakobyan | TEDxUWCDilijan Youth

Quick Overview

Rebecca Hakobyan shares her personal journey of realizing that security is internal, not geographical, advising the audience to embrace their life journey's storms and always be the pilot of their own lives, despite facing personal tragedy like the loss of her parents in Armenia shortly after moving to the US.

Key Points: Rebecca Hakobyan, originally from Armenia, moved to the US for college and believed she was the best student in the world, only to face personal tragedy when her parents passed away in Armenia in September 2001. She realized that security is internal, residing in one's mind, and is not defined by geography (Armenia or the US). The speaker advises the audience to define their core values by choosing three values, not ten, to avoid compromise. She recounts that she spent 18 years after her parents' death seeking security externally, working for startups and applying to colleges globally. Hakobyan emphasizes that life always contains storms, and one must learn to enjoy the journey rather than focusing solely on the destination or past struggles. She encourages the audience to be the hero of their own story and the pilot of their own flight, rather than being a passenger.

Context: Rebecca Hakobyan delivers a TEDx talk at TEDxUWCDilijan Youth, sharing a deeply personal narrative about finding internal security after experiencing profound loss and upheaval. Her journey involved moving from Armenia to the US, dealing with her parents' deaths shortly after her move, and spending years seeking external stability before recognizing that true security comes from within and is tied to personal values.

Detailed Analysis

Rebecca Hakobyan begins by setting the scene, noting that the UWC Dilijan community represents students from around 79 countries, which she finds incredible, especially coming from Armenia, a relatively mono-national country. She then shifts to her personal story, revealing that she never read fiction books because she believed that the 8 billion people on Earth with registered legal entities all have a story worth telling, and she needed to focus on her own journey. She recounts that her dream journey—moving to the US for college, believing she was the best student—ended abruptly when her parents died in Armenia in September 2001, which changed everything for her. She felt lost and stuck, believing security was external (Armenia, US, or anywhere else) rather than internal. She spent 18 years seeking external validation through work and education, but ultimately realized that security resides in one's mind. Her advice to the audience is to define three core values rather than trying to balance ten, as having too many values leads to compromise. She urges them to be grateful for all experiences, good or bad, because they shape who they are, and to always be the pilot of their own life's flight, not just a passenger, embracing the storms along the way.