Dr. Ellen Langer

So many people are going to see me and then just stuff my face.

But I didn't bother doing that.

It didn't make me the slightest bit anxious because I've done things.

I'm not 12 years, 20 years old.

It's not the beginning of my career.

But I think that lots of the things we learn when we're older, the wisdom that comes with age, people should learn when they're young.

You know, to realize, I wrote a paper, a little blog at one point about, you know, you're three years old and you fall and you scrape and you cry bloody.

Then you're six years old.

I don't know, are you in elementary school at six years old?

Yeah, you're first grade.

And Johnny or Janie doesn't send you a Valentine's and, you know, the world's going to end.

and then you get a little older and now you've got some pimples and oh my god i'm never going to be attractive and then you get and you get your first job and am i ever go it just goes on and on until at some point you say it was all so silly

And we can be taught the ways it's silly right from the beginning to realize there are many ways of doing everything.

And by thinking that there's one right way, then that makes so many of us wrong.

and um and there are things we put in place to keep us down and i'm here to say you want to do it differently do it differently we should all be doing it differently in a whole different way when i lecture sometimes i look in the audience i say is there anybody here who's six five

Surprisingly, there almost always is.

I ask him to come on the stage.

I'm 5'3".

We look ridiculous here, right?

I ask him to put his hand up.