Watch a TED talk, and you’ll end up learning an interesting fact that you can slip into a conversation. Watch multiple, and you start to see the world from a different perspective. Although not every TED talk may be life-altering, the best ones have allowed me to gain valuable knowledge about human behavior, business, education and everyday life. Here are just a few TED talks that have left an impact on me:

Lesson learned: Age does not define if my opinion should be taken seriously or not. My voice matters.

  17 year old Kate Simonds started off by making the point that as soon as she stepped onto the TED stage, people assumed that she won a Nobel Peace Prize, cured a disease, got a perfect SAT score at a young age or some sort or was awarded some sort of important award. Simonds then went on to discuss how even though she has not gained achievements such as these, that her ideas should not be taken any less seriously.Watch the TED talk here: www.youtube.com

Lesson learned:  Talking to strangers allows you to open yourself to the unknown by getting out of your comfort zone and learning about the world around you.

  According to TED speaker Kio Stark, “When you talk to strangers, you’re making beautiful interruptions into the expected narrative of your daily life and theirs. You’re making unexpected connections. If you don’t talk to strangers, you’re missing out on all of that. We spend a lot of time teaching our children about strangers.What would happen if we spent more time teaching ourselves? We could reject all the ideas that make us so suspicious of each other. We could make a space for change.” Watch the TED talk here: www.ted.com

Lesson learned: Embracing rejection allows us to learn about ourselves, improve from failures, and can even lead to new opportunities.

  According to TED speaker Jia Jiang, “When you get rejected in life, when you are facing the next obstacle or next failure, consider the possibilities. Don’t run. If you just embrace them, they might become your gifts as well.” In this TED talk, Jiang discusses his 100 Days of Rejection campaign and important lessons he took out of it. Watch the TED talk here: www.ted.com

Lesson learned: Self-care and body image is a vital concept to grasp in order for us to reach our full potential.

  Aerie model Iskra Lawrence talks about self-care and how it is one of the most important things to learn at a young age. Lawrence touches upon many significant points in terms of infusing the teaching of self-care into the education system. Read the transcript for the TED talk here: http://www.glamour.com

Lesson learned: Although stories are important, they are not always as glamorous as they seem.

Sisonke Msimang urges viewers to take a break from looking at their phones and paying attention more to the real world and experiencing life for ourselves instead of experiencing it through the stories told by other people through this funny yet thoughtful talk. Watch the TED talk here: https://www.ted.com