Analyzing a TED Talk- Katie Strickland

 Girls on the Run focuses on building good self-esteem, which led me to pick a Ted Talk given by Guy Winch that focuses on how to take care of yourself emotionally, just how we take care of ourselves physically. Taking care of yourself emotionally goes hand in hand with having good self-esteem because if someone allows themselves to have negative thoughts, then his or her self esteem will plummet. Guy Winch, a psychologist, gave his Ted Talk presentation in November of 2014. The speech he gave was titled "Why We All Need to Practice Emotional First Aid" and was presented to an audience at Linnaeus University.

Winch opens up his Ted Talk by telling the audience that he grew up with a twin. He told a short, funny story how even the slightest bit of difference in his brother's portions of food would lead him to believe his brother was the favorite. Winch's story at the beginning was effective in capturing the audience's attention because many of those in the audience could relate to this idea of favoritism if he or she grew up with a sibling. Winch then uses this idea of favoritism to introduce his topic and how becoming a psychologist made him realize that a majority of people participate in favoritism. This common favoritismWinch discovered is how people favorite their physical health over their emotional health, body over mind. Throughout the entire speech Winch is effective in keeping the audience's attention because his Ted Talk is relatable in how he tells stories of his own failure and loneliness, which are both feelings that those in the audience were sure to have experienced before. Winch's excellent story telling is also complimented by his conversational quality because all throughout his speech he refers to people as "we" including himself with the audience and asks the audiences questions for them to think about and answer themselves.


I found Winch's speech very interesting and was also able to learn a few new things from it. One of the biggest things I took from Winch's speech was how to handle negative thoughts about yourself. The simple solution is to just think about something positive until that feeling of negativity passes and if this is consistently done, a person's outlook on life could become overall more positive in just one short week. Though Winch failed to deliver any jaw dropping moments he did make a connection between physical and emotional health that really made you realize how important emotional health is. Winch told the audience that failing to take care of yourself emotionally can lead to physical health problems such as alcoholism, eating disorders and depression. In a world where people care so much about their bodies everyone needs to realize that to properly care for one's body, one needs to care for their emotional wounds too such as failure, rejection and loneliness. Throughout the speech, Winch uses humor by making fun of himself. Doing this makes Winch more relatable because he is down to earth enough to make fun of himself, something not everyone is capable of.

Winch completed his Ted Talk in a total of seventeen minutes and twenty four seconds. The Ted Talk did not even seem to last that long because Winch used stories throughout the entire speech and humor, which holds your attention and interest as you listen. The time also flew by during the speech because of the multisensory experiences Winch would send you on. The descriptive stories and language Winch used helped paint mental pictures in the audience's, allowing the audience to better understand the importance of emotional health. Not once did Winch stray away from being in his own lane. Winch's own stories of emotional trauma helped give his speech more credibility in how the methods he talked about helped himself when he was emotionally wounded.

I think Guy Winch's speech should be watched by everyone. People need to realize that kids and adults need to be taught how to take care of themselves emotionally because in doing this the quality of everyone's lives will improve greatly. People will begin to feel more confident in themselves and because of this will become more likely to reach for higher goals. I enjoyed watching this Ted Talk and know that I have learned some valuable ways to help take care of myself emotionally.