Tyler Charlebois

Transcript

I've got my cargo shorts on and I'm grinning ear to ear even with my buck two smile and my rat tail nothing is stopping me from feeling like a cross between Justin Bieber and a young Tom Cruise I'm the most happy joyous kid you will ever meet on the playground I'm just gonna make some friends and be a part of the fun I'm in seventh grade and I'm beyond excited to get out of Mrs Flynn's class because she's been riding my ass all day I can't wait to get outside and play with my friends the schoolyard is massive so much space to burn my insane

energy run around with my friends and too big to spot me laying on the ground being kicked mercilessly Josh has been bullying me since the beginning of the year so it's no surprise when he slams me to the ground Paul is bigger and stronger than me and so I end up laying on the ground in the fetal position blocking my face from his brutal kicks and all I can think of is why would they want to do this to me how could this be fun for them but bullying wasn't new to me since day one of elementary school I was so chubby in out of

shape I'd constantly hear the taunts of the other kids saying hey Tyler have you called Jenny Craig yet I didn't even know what Jenny Craig was I had so much acne that kids would literally just call me dirt they couldn't have been more direct personal hygiene was a concept that I was unaware of I didn't enjoy bathing so I'd constantly be picked on for being greasy and gross not to mention my teeth were a disaster and so that made it so my smile was enough ammo for my bullies and scared away the girls every day I would go to school wondering what new torment awaited

me this was my normal I didn't know anything else life was rough every day I would come home from either being picked on or something up but my mom would always be there for me she could read me like a book every single time she would hear me out and then without even needing to say a word the look in her eyes was enough reassurance for me to know that I was still worthy of love she had spent hours helping me unpack and process my fears going deep until I had the emotional Fitness to go back into battle the next day she didn't just help

me survive my childhood she equipped me with two powerful gifts emotional intelligence and self-awareness I learned that when people don't feel significant within themselves they have one of two choices to make themselves feel better either face their deepest fears do something amazing build something Incredible or they can bully someone until they're at the point where of laying on the ground crying hopelessly what controls how we feel isn't our life circumstances and it's not what happens to us because even though everybody in this room is going to go through different life experiences we're not all going to feel the same way when it happens to us

some of us will wonder why is this happening to me others will wonder if God is punishing them but some of us will be excited about the new opportunity that we find in that experience true empowerment I believe is the ability to choose to live in a beautiful State of Mind regardless of the trauma that we endure we don't experience life itself we experience what we focus on and that becomes the single most important decision of our life so tonight I ask you what will you focus on

Transcript generated from the recording and lightly cleaned. Some names and wording may differ from the spoken speech.