Australian Christian evangelist and motivational speaker Nick Vujicic talked about how he thought about committing suicide at the tender age of 8 years old. He was born with Phocomelia, a rare disorder characterized by being born without limbs.
Growing up, life was difficult for Nick. He was bullied for his condition. In the second half of his TED talk entitled "Transforming the Walls into Doors" or "Changing Obstacles into Opportunities," he admitted that he wanted to end his life when he was younger.
"At age 8 I thought that I should commit suicide," he said. "Why? Because I didn't have hope. I thought I didn't have hope. Today you can see that I have hope."
When he was 10, Nick Vujicic tried to drown himself in 6 inches, or about 15 centimeters of water, in their home. "I told my dad I just wanted to relax, but really, I wanted to end my life," he revealed.
"The first two times I rolled over. I was trying to work out how much air I hold in my lungs before I let it out. And the third time, in my mind, knowing that I wanted to get out of here, because of the bullying in my life, because I was going to be a burden to my parents and I had nothing to look forward to."
One thought stopped him from doing the worst and that was thinking of his family. "So when I saw in my mind my mom and my dad and my brother crying at my grave if I went through with it, that one thought saved me," Nick said.
He advised parents to encourage their teenagers. Reach out to them even when they put up a "do not disturb" sign on their doors.
"We all want love," he said. "That's why we do what we do sometimes. To get into the crowd - I am going to swear, I am going to be cool - that's what this world is - 'I want to look like her, I want to like... if I was taller, shorter, smarter, more popular' - whatever you want, it's not enough... Until you find the truth."
That truth, according to him, is overcoming hopelessness. Nick Vujicic noted that the key is knowing who you are and why you're here in this world.
