Now What? | Rinaaz Sulthana | TEDxUniversity of Birmingham Dubai

About this video

What happens when the finish line disappears before you cross it? This year, the CBSE board examinations were cancelled in the Middle East. Overnight, months of preparation had nowhere to go. What followed wasn't relief or disappointment — it was a question that had been waiting since 10th grade: who are you when you're no longer defined by what you achieve? "Now What?" is an honest and unexpected exploration of identity after the system ends. It's not a talk about bouncing back. It's not about finding yourself. It's not a list of things you should do differently. It's about the parts of you that existed long before any finish line — quietly, in the background, attached to no grade and no goal. The parts that don't announce themselves. The parts you only notice when everything else goes silent. And what you do with them when it does. Rinaaz is a recent high school graduate who once had a sketchbook, a camera, and a growing list of things she'd get to eventually. Most of them are still waiting. Currently in the in-between — somewhere after the finish line that never arrived and before whatever comes next — she is slowly figuring out what it means to feel like herself again. A storyteller at heart, she returns to the TEDx stage for her second talk, this time with something more personal to say. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx