What happens when a near-fatal accident leaves you searching for a way to heal? For Joabe, the answer became a mission: to run every single street in Chicago. Spanning thousands of miles, his journey has uncovered not just hidden corners of a city, but also lessons about resilience, fear, and human connection. In this inspiring talk, Joabe shares how confronting physical and mental limits can reshape the stories we tell about the communities we live in and about ourselves. Talk was given as part of the TEDx Global Idea Search.

Joabe Barbosa is a clinical psychology doctoral student embarking on an extraordinary journey to become the first person in history to officially run every single street in the city of Chicago. What began as rehabilitation after a life-threatening incident has evolved into a mission now more than halfway complete, spanning nearly 4,000 miles across every neighborhood in the city. Along the way, Joabe has uncovered Chicago – not in headlines, but on foot. His project has grown into a call to challenge fear-driven narratives and connect divided communities, reframing how we view our cities: not as places defined by danger, but as communities full of ordinary people. His story has captured attention and inspired others to step off the familiar path to see the world differently. At his core, Joabe believes exploration has the power to dissolve fear, reframe perception, and illuminate the extraordinary in the ordinary.