Victor Lopez

Transcript

You know, if every time someone said something negative about me, and I lost a dollar, I would be broke. Actually, wait. That's a terrible example. I'm already broke. But, if every time someone said something negative about me, I took a step back from my dream of being an inspirational speaker, I wouldn't be anywhere near this stage today. Now, I know I come out as a super confident person, but let me tell you, I faced a deep challenge in my life. You see, the hardest road I ever traveled was one no one could see.

It wasn't across the country. It wasn't towards a dream. It was away from a version of myself that I did not like. I had become the person I was most disappointed in. And the problem The problem was I wasn't addressing my feelings. Rather, I was hiding from them. Something I became good at. Maybe a little too good. To the point that sometimes I joke around that I picked up that bad habit from playing poker. Because when you play poker, the goal is simple.

You hide everything. No emotions, no reactions. And at the poker table, it works perfectly. I take everyone's money while they just sit there with a confused look on their face. But, in the real world, in the real world, it hits different. You see, if you knew me between the years of 2022 and 2024, you would have seen a person who was always smiling. But, what you wouldn't have seen was a person disappearing on the inside. My mindset was weak. I didn't know what my purpose in life was.

I thought I could never be successful. My relationship with my loved ones was falling apart. Listen, my sister Veronica and my brother-in-law Mark, who still supported my dream from the very beginning. Do you know how how I hurt them? I didn't go to their wedding. And there was no excuse. I was greedy, I was selfish, and I missed it. I reached the highest weight of my life during that time. 215 lb. Slowly through neglect. Neglect of discipline, neglect of responsibility, neglect of myself.

Until one night when I was laid in bed I finally decided to let these words out that I've been holding inside for months, out loud. I hate myself. Now, the strangest thing was that that moment didn't break me. It woke me up. You see, for the first time I stopped making excuses. I stopped blaming other people. And I finally vowed to myself that I would become the person that I know I'm capable of being. You see, I required change. Not dramatic change, quiet change.

Better thoughts, better habits, better decisions, day by day. And that's when I learned that you can't build confidence if you're always resenting yourself. You can't grow if your thoughts are constantly tearing you down. And that's when I realized that I had to think differently. I had to think beyond my anger, think beyond my excuses, think beyond the version of myself that I was ashamed of. And damn it, am I ever happy I did. Because when you look at me now, I stand on this stage able to say that this is my purpose in life.

My relationship with my loved ones is stronger than ever. And as far as my health goes, I'm 40 lb lighter today. And the reason why I get so emotional is because in 2 months I'll be 38 years old. And in almost 38 years of my life, I've never been this happy. I've never been this proud of the person that I'm becoming. A feeling that I want every single person to feel. That is why I'm going to leave you with something very powerful, something straight from my heart.

No life is better than yours. Stop comparing your everyday life to someone else's highlight reel. And don't just listen to your heart, but follow your heart with whatever it desires because peace and happiness awaits. Success will come, and I will start feeling more and more successful as more and more people not just say think victorious, but they actually start living with a think victorious mindset. Speaking straight from the bottom of my heart, I just want to say thank you.

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

Transcript

I know how precious my time in this world really is and how there's no such thing as the perfect time. That is why I accepted this challenge and for the first time stepped onto a stage so I can finally let my voice be heard. You see, in many phases of my life, I have always had non-believers who tried telling me what I couldn't do. Do you have any idea how annoying it is to have to hear these negative voices time and time again?

Victor, you've been painting for over 14 years. You can't quit. That's all you know, Victor. You're trying to create peace and unity. That's an impossible task. And here's my favorite one. Victor, you don't have what it takes to speak at Speaker Slam on July 15th. Well, to my non-believers, look at me now. Listen, I'd be lying if I said it was easy. It was far from it. My journey goes back to when I was in high school. I graduated a year late.

College and university was never in my plans. That's when people around me. Can you imagine 18 and 19 year olds telling me that I was going to do nothing with my life? That I'd be working a 9-to-five type of job while earning the minimum wage for the rest of my life? That hurt. My peers thought that I was a failure. Now, I was desperate to prove them wrong. But it just wasn't that easy. Eventually, I thought my luck changed about 14 years ago when a neighbor at the time introduced me to painting.

Now, over those years, the work was consistent. Money was better than average. Heck, I even became a great painter. Everything seemed to be going my way. No. Nah. You see, deep down, I knew I didn't want to paint for the rest of my life. But I didn't have that drive to go and find something else. That changed when two things happened. The first thing was when people started realizing that it wasn't my company. They started saying that I had reached my full potential.

That I was already making the max amount of money and that I would be somebody's employee for the rest of my life. And the second thing was when a friend who I haven't seen in years came up to me and told me, "I heard you were in rehab." Now, I laughed it off. I didn't think much of it. But here's when things got weird. Over the next two weeks, 15 other people came up to me telling me the same thing. So that 16 people, how many more people are out there who thinks this is true?

A rumor that was started to say that I was a junkie. Who would start that? Why is there always people trying to bring me down? And the more I thought about it, I started to realize that that's just the way the world is. And if that's not going to change, then that means I had to change something in myself. And that's what I knew that was mentally that I had a lot of growing up to do. You see, I don't need nobody's permission, their approval.

I just have to believe in myself and feed off people's negative energy. That's right. Feed off people's negative energy. You see, they said that I was a failure. They said that I reached my full potential, but not in a good way. They said that I was a junkie. Thank you. Thank you for sparking the flame inside me that I so desperately needed. Thank you for making me dream bigger. You see, two years ago, when I knew that it was my destiny to become an inspirational speaker, for the first time in my life, I did not let people's negative opinions get in my way.

They laughed, I laughed back. You think it's funny? I told them, "We'll see if you're still laughing when you see me go to speaker slab, not just to compete, but to claim victory. When you eventually see me speak at one of Giovani's destiny events, and I electrify everybody in the audience. And when I become and when I become one of the greatest inspirational speakers for high school students across North America, you see, my message, my story today wasn't for you to feel sad or sorry for me.

It was simply to remind you that there are millions of people today who feel the way that I felt. Millions of people who don't get to share their gifts and talents with the rest of the world because somewhere along their journey, they let those negative voices stop them. So the next time that you want to pursue your dream, I urge you, I challenge you, I beg you to continue to follow your dreams. And once those dreams are within reach, you will witness your non-believers become your biggest believers.

Always keep your head up high, stay confident, and believe in yourself. And remember to always think in a victorious way. Thank you.

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