Translator: Josephine O'Donnell
Reviewer: Hélène Vernet Good evening everyone. In the next few minutes,
we'll be going on a journey, but before that, I'm going
to start by asking you a question. It's a question you've
already heard dozen of times: what do you want to do in life? For those who manage
to find a response, it would be interesting to see
if it's the same as the previous years. In other words,
are you always on course? Personnaly, I never knew
what I wanted to do in my life, And sometimes it used to annoy me. I have never had a specific dream and therefore no clear vision
of the future I wanted. But I had passions,
extra-curricular activities that I enjoyed
and that shaped my character. For me, these activities defined me
as a person in all it's complexity. Every time I was looking for a job,
none seemed to perfectly suit me. It was as if I would have to take away
a part of myself each time to fit into that box. It's surprising, isn't it? Even without knowing
exactly what we want, we sometimes have to study
for a long period of time. Three years ago, I finished - wait for it - a mechanical design engineering degree. Mechanical design engineering, a five year course in science,
post A-levels, all without knowing what I wanted? It's a little paradoxical, isn't it? In fact, it wasn't really because I loved learning
I loved learning science, and I had time, student life was great, but I still didn't know
what will be my occupation. I only really understood it later,
during my last internship. I remember it well:
I was sitting at my desk, and I had just received
instructions from my boss. He had asked me to come up
with a mechanical system. It was out of the blue,
and it was going to take some time. I was tired and depressed because my only desire was
to go home and do what I love: playing music
and learning photography. I had to resign myself to the idea
that that evening would be another one where I would go home
just to eat and go to bed. At last, I realised that my job
was the one I studied for, and the one I was
going to do all my life. I was almost surprised to learn this, despite the fact that for five years,
I was supposed to train for it. At that moment, I realised
I had to break up, I had to stop. I wanted a reassess my life
and find a new direction. It's true, when we are in working
life or even students, we are not able to think calmly. There's always something to do,
a problem to solve. How can we know exactly what we want if we can't even manage to think calmly? That's when I realised I didn't need
a holiday, I wanted a retreat, (Laughing) a retreat
to make a journey inward. So I thought about going to Nepal, the emblematic symbol of meditation, and I was surprised
to find it was possible to go and live in a Buddhist monastery
over there for little money. In fact, all you had to do was
take part in the community. So I jumped at the opportunity. Once on the plane,
finally, I was leaving ! I was leaving France for three months, three months of tranquillity, three months to center myself... The beauty upon arrival is just dazzling. Imagine a big monastery like this with a hundred of children inside
and over thirty adults. And when you arrive and pass
through this monastery's doors, you leave aside all day-to-day problems. And when I say "all problems",
I really mean all. There's no need to work,
to revise, to answer emails, even planning what you have to buy to eat. All you needed to do was to live
to the rhythm of the monks, and the sound of their bells. I was given a bed and food;
it was simple, but it was enough. At the end of a few weeks, I started to use my camera
and capture the experiences I was living. Every morning,
we were awaken at 5:30 a.m. by a mad monk hitting
a gong in the monastery's courtyard. We had only 15 minutes
to get to the central temple and sat. Once on our little cushions, there was one hour
of mantra chanting during a ceremony called "Puja". When we had finished, I would see the monks coming out
while pushing the temple's curtains and we would
see the sun starting to enter. It was magnificent. Every day, we ate outside,
sitting on the ground. The food was the same,
safe two or three different vegetables. After a while, I felt my tastes
were starting to change. I sensed that I was taking more time. I was more present in what I was doing. In fact, there was nothing
to distract me such as TV or adverts. There were just children who were around me, were eating, and sometimes wanted
to play with me or speak to me. With them, in three months, I went from being a stranger,
to being a pretty cool English teacher, (Laughing) to being sometimes
more of a friend and confidant. I remember that I witnessed
amazing moments of life, such as when monks shave each
others heads about once a month. For them, it's a sign of sobriety, of renouncement of consumer
and appearance-based society. For others, it's also a good opportunity to have fun. By the way, between the two,
this one was kind of scoundrel. In class, he wasn't very nice. Sometimes I would leave the monastery
and go for a walk in the countryside. And I discovered another one,
perched on top of a mountain that was amazing too. I was lucky because that day
was also a day off for the children. I came across a little group
who were playing with sheets of paper. We made an Airbus A380, of course, and we threw them
from the top of a small wall. At the end of a few weeks,
I felt the euphoria started to drop. And I discovered boredom. Boredom is, for human, a hostile feeling that they learned to outsmart
with many different strategies. The most famous, you know it well, it is your smartphone. Put it aside just for a few minutes,
and boredom comes back each time. I remember spending hours in my bedroom,
lying on my bed in silence. I was experiencing boredom. I looked at the ceiling, and there was
nothing to look at, and yet... and yet I looked at it closely. After a while, I discovered myself. I saw many things happening
inside me, things that moved. We hear a lot of things when it's silent. I discovered that I had tinnitus. But after a quick search on the internet,
I learnt that everyone has it. We're just not aware of it
because we're not listening to it. After a while, I felt more
in touch with myself. I felt I could rethink
the direction my life would take. I had the guts to ask myself once again
the famous question asked earlier but by adding a new parameter, a parameter that changes everything. I said to myself, "Joffrey, what
would you really want to do in your life if you had no chance of failing?" It takes a lot of time
to respond such a question. Personally, I had to break
all the mental barriers I had constructed and that defined me. In eight years, I got slowly used
to the idea of becoming an engineer. When these barriers are broken
and we truly ask ourselves truthfully what occupation we want, we finally start to think. We no longer search through the prism
of our studies, we go further. We think like children who have not been shaped
by their surroundings. We think like children
who were not said, "You're good at this but bad at that". After a while, I felt I was
coming with an answer. And now it fits in one sentence: "I wish to live by always spending enough time to the development
of what I am passionate about." I wish to live by always
giving myself enough time to work on what I am passionate about. I did not talk about photography,
maybe one day I'll get tired of it, but even so, I wanted
to give myself the time to try. You know, it's this little time that allows you to go from amateurism
to being a professional. In the end, it was necessary
to go back, work, save money because real life continues
to go forward at a crazy speed. I had just signed up an open-ended
contract as an engineer, but it was okay
because I finally had my goal. I had my motive. I had my driving force. I knew that to have entrepreneurial
freedom and freedom to move, I needed to emancipate
myself from wage-labor. But before, I had to learn. It continued like this
for a year and a half, 1.5 year of subway-work-sleep routine. And I assure you that after
three months in a monastery, experiencing Paris' subway
is not really nice. And after a while,
I started to feel depressed. When I looked around me, everyone seemed
quite satisfied with their job. When I was considering leaving mine,
what was I thinking? Payed holidays, extra days off,
job security, they're not that bad. (Laughing) I also felt social pressure
weighing down on me when I compared jobs said
to be "rewarding" like engineering, with others like photography. I was told, "Hey, you didn't do
all this for nothing! You don't feel good, ok, but don't worry,
You will get better tomorrow, come on!" My favourite, you know it? "Five-year studies to be an engineer,
and you end up as a photographer? You know, kids!" (Laughter) We've all heard that; well, I have anyway. At first, it affected me,
but later, it was lost on me. One day, I felt ready, so I left. I have now been
a photographer for over a year, self-employed and working for myself. And I was able to make
a decent living this year. I developed new skills in the Web,
in computer graphics, engineering, and when I have time, I leave. I lose myself in different countries. Here, for example, it was in Kirghistan.
a country impossible to pronounce, and no one knows how to spell it. There, I discovered the nomadic culture
and especially hospitality. They welcomed us,
and gave us food and drink. They had nothing. Sometimes, I don't go to remote
countries but to cities as well. Like here. in Kathmandu,
where I came across a woman. We smiled at each other because when I carry
my backpack and feel good, the camera around my neck, I feel in the right
place at the right time. I feel in this special short
moment where I think, "Wow! I'm happy. It's here that I should be." So at last, I understood
and I had the proof that we should trust ourselves,
nurture our creativity, and never stop learning. I realised that everything I did
for eight years was coherent, but it took me eight years to see it, eight years to understand
that even engineering is helping me today
in my job as a photographer. Actually, it's only
when we step back far enough that we can see the whole picture. I'm convinced that we all love
many things outside of our main job, and that it's vital
to maintain our curiosity. And If we let ourselves
do plenty of what we love, if we keep on doing this day after day, nurturing this little flame
of curiosity and passion, then little by little
and without judgement, one day, we turn around, and we finally understand
the consistency in our actions. And then, all we have to do
is turn off this notorious autopilot, to start to make a change. And now, I'd like to ask you again
one last question this evening: what would you really want
to make of your life if there was no chance of failing? Thank you. (Applause)
