Birgit Itse 💎 TEDx Speaker|Author|Ghostwriter

Lubatud suur uudis. 🥰 "Minu Šotimaa. Täiuslik elu" on nüüd ilmunud. Täna kohtusin raamatuga ka ise, aga 30.03.2026 on ametlik trükikojast saabumise päev. @petroneprint #minušotimaa #täiuslikelu #väliseestlased

My TEDx talk is finally live. It's about being perfect. And finding balance. /watch?v=VRbw-ZCZzCE Minu TEDx kõne. Lõpuks avalik. Kuigi inglisekeelne, kõlab selles ka eesti keelt. #tedx #tedxtalks #tedxspeaker #aberdestonian

One step at the time... When you take upon your greatest physical challenge, and find yourself between the urge to speed up to push through or slow down to be sble to finish, it becomes a challenge itself. Walking the Deeside Way had been in my mind for over 6 months, and I was waiting for the days to get long enough. Although I couldn't find any blog posts about doing it within one day, I was looking at the numbers, and my own previous long walks, and I knew it was doable. Runners had done it under 7hrs, that gave confidence too. 5.05.2026 Start 5.51 Ballater Finish 22.51 Duthie Park 44 miles/70.8km 30 minute lunch in Potarch 30 minute ice-cream break in Banchory 30 minute tea in Drumoak And some smaller breaks to admire lambs, apply sports cream, put on/take off jacket, or help others to take pictures. I look at this road differently now. Impossible became possible. @visitabdn @visitaberdeen @visitscotland #deesideway #longdistancewalking #visitaberdeen #walkingchallenge #impossible

The alignment between words and actions has become increasingly important to me. To believe only actions is as shortsighted as to believe only words. It's not easy to do as you've said you will when emotional overwhelm hijacks your whole being quicker than your cognitive capacity can stop yourself on these tracks. It's a different kind of emotional challenge to say things, or say something at all if in your past speaking up has brought consequences you prefer to avoid to protect yourself. When I was 16, I wrote an essay as part of my exams. It was based on a quote by a well-known Estonian author Paul-Eerik Rummo. "It's easy to condemn but difficult to understand." It's very much current in my life these days. We can never fully understand another person but how much do we have to try for this to be enough for them to be brave enough to trust? Trust you, your feelings and your own capacity to work through them. And if I understand myself so much better then why is that stupid monster still so loud and banging behind the doors? Returning to simplicity helps me. The joy from seeing wildflowers bloom, apple tree blossoms in the forgotten walled garden, tensions released in the waterfall, and shared joy of being fully present. Messy, fragile, vulnerable, a bit silly but with each other. I choose honesty over flawless performances. Risk of being misunderstood remains the same. Chances of being met and enjoying true inner freedom without being condemned increase remarkably. It gets proved again and again. #buildingtrust #beingmet #beingpresent #wildflowers #lettinggo

Awareness itself isn't enough. Which is why I think it's so important that this year, the theme of the current Mental Health Awareness Week is "Take action". Take action to support your own mental health but also others around you. Before jumping into doing things, let's pause for a minute and think - how to achieve that improvement? Having had severe battles of my own, and dealing with them from time to time, taking action can be very different things. In some days, it's me moving mountains and being more than Chuck Norris by doing everything in my to-do list. Other days, it means that I just delete some of the things from my to-do list. Not because I've done them but I no longer want to do them. Some days it means I drive to one of the waterfalls or to the seaside, and dook myself under water to tame the internal flames. And then there're days when moving myself from a bed to my living room sofa is a mountain itself. And not beating myself up for it, calling myself lazy but allowing myself to rest is the best action I can take at that moment. When it comes to supporting others, I've learned to ask - what do you need right now? What feels the most difficult for me, is to see someone struggle and to ... do nothing. Just to watch that struggle. Like they are a plant you give light, warmth, and water but they have to do the growing, develop their own buds and let them bloom. But maybe we're not meant to be their gardeners? Maybe we're a flower, or a tree ourselves, and our task is to bloom, and that will encourage them to do the same. There're days when we want and need someone we trust to tell us things we need to hear, days when self-encouragement is not enough. It's scary to ask but if you ask it from a person who has the capacity to give it, both of you will feel better as it'll bring you closer. I know it now. Even when we feel very alone in our struggles, there're other plants and trees in this garden, or in these woods who are with us. #mentalhealthawarenessweek #mentalhealthpost #takeaction #thoughtprovoking #youarenotalone

I recently read that people who smile more come across friendly, approachable, and genuine but over time, their presence might be taken for granted, and their value is lower, where's people who mostly look at you with indifference the best or that resting b....c face, are perceived as higher value because getting them to smile provides bigger sense of achievement, it's more exciting. This #intermittent presence of a smile, kindness or anything else that creates emotional safety, is training our nervous systems to be the puppets of someone else's show. If a smile, kindness, or honesty becomes a reward, it stops being #authentic. It'll part of the game. A game to keep you around until you still have something to give, something they want. Even if it's a mere revenge for the things you didn't do. I choose to stay me, a smile on my face. 📸 @fabphotography.ltd @fashionartmedia_group Outfit Suezy Summers

It has been a bit wild recently. When my 'personal numerologist' wrote to my birthday card that during the next 12 months impossible will become possible, I took it seriously but still - I feel like my self-image has some catch-up to do, and quickly. 😁 I can't tell you about everything yet but these challenges, events, and achievements have been remarkable even to my standards. 🙈 Not everything has sinked in yet. I'm humbled. Is there a word that describes the feeling when gratitude fills every cell in your body, and you feel like in a gentle, loving hug. A bosie, as they say it up here. #achievement #authorsuccess #estonianabroad #estoniancultureabroad #impossible

Traditional, or more like outdated??? Over the past couple of years I've heard people excusing either their own, or someone else's inappropriate behaviour with the word he/she's more traditional. I don't like the sound of it. Traditions are something we'd like to keep, something we value, are important to us. It doesn't make me less feminine just because I enjoy (and know how to) dance both roles. #rolerotation introduced by @felipeytiago_official has made dancing more playful and fun, and male leaders who are calling me 'a man' because of it expose their outdated values, not their traditional background. Or people who still think that romantic relationships are transactional. Personally, it would make me feel cheap. I've also noticed some kind of matriarchy at certain social situations, obediance to someone just because of her being older, or her husbands on a higher position. It shouldn't be a thing. At least in Scotland in 2026. I'm well aware of cultural differences and diversity. I believe as important as it is to preserve your culture abroad, feeling and behaving like you're entitled to be treated based on your cultural background is rude, to say the least. Traditions aren't rigid. They evolve. Part of the traditional values in the Middle Ages was *not to* beat your wife so badly that she dies because of it. Part of Victorian values was not to be direct but to avoid confrontation as much as possible. Being vague, indirect, or "understated" was a way to avoid appearing 'common'. Traditional femininity and masculinity is still taught, and a lot of these teachings are pure manipulation. Do x for them to do y. Delay your responses - that keeps them hooked. Behave like you're unavailable. Even bettet if it's intermittent, it keeps them on their toes. Say/do xyz for them to commit. Tell them you've got many options to choose from. Let them decide small things, and then make decisions on bigger ones. Dark psychology tricks. Touch their shoulder, arm, chest, mirror their body language, look into their eyes and then their T-zone... Next time when someone uses the word traditional, pause and ask - is this a tradition I want to keep?

Places that feel unreal because it's something you have not been able to imagine. Pictures and even this reel from my wee walk fon't do justice to that beauty. And that is often with a human soul, too. We witness moments of emotional resilience and capacity, and that is beautiful. And takes a long time to grow. Like the carpet of bluebells. Footprints will ruin it for everyone. Don't destroy someone's bluebell carpet in their soul. #bluebellwoods #bluebells #bonniescotland #emotionalresilience #becominghappy

Something happened. It was only my second time to visit London and first time to explore and get around on my own. My phone battery died in the moment I arrived in front of my B&B. I had left my battery bank behind this time. Without a working phone I couldn't see the instructions how to get the keys. I decided to walk a bit back with the hope that there's a cafe not too far away. Found one. "By any chance, can I charge my phone, please?" I asked. The barista guided me to the area with the plugs underneath the seat. As I was squatting under the table, and bumping my head against it for the second time a familiar voice made me pause. "Not a chance, you wouldn't even recognise George Clooney or Lady Gaga walking pass you," I told myself. And it's true. I do not recognise celebrities. But that voice, his calm, assertive, kind words nudging you to follow your dream, fight for it — unmistakeable. A flickering thought I had had an hour earlier when crossing Westminster Bridge, rushing to beat the 10% of the battery left to use came back to me: this is where @simonsquibb has asked people what's their dream. I opened my kombucha. He was less than 10 metres away from me, sitting with 2 gentlemen, one of them quite young. Perhaps one of those coaching sessions, I thought. I don't believe in coincidences. This was an opportunity. The decision was made. I didn't know how much time I had. By the time he finished, I had my business card ready, and the order of things I wanted to say, roughly in my head. To me, he's not just someone I follow. I have used his story as a source of encouragement and inspiration with my book writing mentorship customers, and during my creativity and writing workshops. He has helped me help others to fight for their dream, and it was only fair if he knows that. He was kind to listen to my dream - to ghostwrite more talks and speeches for people who have influence, to encourage people to think more about things that really matter. Those 10 minutes gave me a lot. "We're doing the same thing," was one of the things he said. Thank you, Simon, for doing what you do, and even more importantly - HOW you do it. 🙏🏻

There's something about Peter Pan... Some are drawn to their childlike curiosity. Some see through their lack of trust to the mundanity and a land of Fairies as a safe familiarity. Some found their emotinal avoidance and intermittent presence unreliable, they call it toxic. I wouldn't go that far, unless this behaviour is intentional, but I'd like to believe, in most cases, it isn't. Your body will let you know the truth. You just need to learn to listen. The Devil is in the details. But that kind of emotional avoidance might lead to emotional outbursts that create the very thing one was trying to avoid - conflict, confrontantion, awkward situation, disappointment, feeling guilty, even ashamed. And the thing is - because one held thede back for so long, these came out without being able to control them, destructing the very thing one tried to rebuild - trust. Pretending everything is fine is like Peter Pan escaping back to his Fairies. Pretending that there never was a conflict, and let's just move on without discussing what went wrong creates resentment, a foundation for a bigger, more destructive conflict... Pretending that someone doesn't cross your boundaries, and finding them excuses why they do it whilst accusing others of attempts to control you, creates distance and leads to isolation - the very thing the sulky-eyed boundary-crosser wants. Pretending that little white lies are acts of kindness, not just plain niceness will cost us what we're all secretly, or not so secretly looking for - real closeness. Real relationship are not about flawless performances. Reliability comes from repair, however messy the attempts might be. #reliability #pretending #littlewhitelies #communication #relationships

Where do I even start? Where so you start when you're trying to process emotions after seeing your work in a Fine Art Gallery in London, holding printed versions of it, and feedback echoing still in my head? Never in my wildest dreams I saw myself attending an exhibition opening in London where my work is part of it. Although creating images with words is something I enjoy, this project led by @26writers challenged my skills as not only did we have to write two pieces — one precisely 62 words, the other about 500 — we also filmed and interviewed the artist we were paired with. 20 writers all over UK were selected along with 20 artists. I didn't know @adeadesina before, neither did I know about his way of working so to capture his essence in a way that a well-known film documentalist Mike Southon can turn it into a documentary put some pressure to the process. The result was so beautiful. I feel so honoured to be part of this project. Having lived in Scotland for 6 years, this is definitely a big recognition to me. The specific feedback given — my input being intelligent, incisive, and capturing the artist's way of working with precision, meant a lot, as did the feedback about my writing. Thank you, @ml42pix and @jamiejauncey for believing in me, and including me in this wonderful collaboration. The launch at @eamesfineart was nothing but a wonderful experience with tasty food and lovely chats. The public launch of the film is coming soon, and I can't wait to share more information with you! #project26 #careerhighlight #writingsuccess #aberdestonian #collaboration