He tormented me for years.

 

And honestly, I’m still not sure what I ever did to deserve it.

 

At a middle school dance, he had a younger kid continiously shove me as hard as he could.

 

I would run after him and, the bully was standing there waiting.

 

He was huge.

 

I used to fight for years before this all happened, but decided to stop when I learned fighting only gets you so far and there’s always someone bigger.

 

That night at the dance, I left early and walked three miles home on a pitch-black road because I didn’t want to face him.

 

The harassment continued.

 

I tried everything I could think of.

 

I even had the toughest kid in school threaten him.

 

Nothing worked and this went on for a few years.

 

Eventually, I stopped trying to change the situation.

 

Instead, I decided to change myself.

 

The summer before my sophomore year, I made a commitment.

 

I worked construction with my dad all day.

 

I lifted weights.

 

I ate well.

 

I barely saw my friends because I knew too much socializing would pull me away from my goal.

 

I wouldn’t even look in the mirror. I didn’t want to become distracted by quick results. I simply trusted the process.

 

I put myself in a cage of discipline.

 

By the end of that summer, I had changed so dramatically that some people thought I was a new student.

 

Then one day it happened.

 

The kid who had terrified me saw me walking down the hallway.

 

His eyes got wide.

 

I didn’t say a word.

 

I didn’t have to.

 

He never bothered me again.

 

Why do I share this story?

 

Because it’s one of the earliest lessons I ever learned about empowerment.

 

When I fought, I was trying to beat my way out of my problems and that didn't work.

 

When I avoided the bully or tried to have someone beat him up, I was trying to run from my problem.

 

Neither worked.

 

The answer came when I decided to become more than my problem.

 

Maybe you’re facing something today.

 

A marriage that leaves you feeling empty.

 

A job you dread going to every morning.

 

A health challenge you’ve almost given up on.

 

It doesn't matter what it is.

 

You can spend years fighting it.

 

Or years running from it.

 

But there’s another option.

 

Turn around and face it and ask yourself:

 

How can I become bigger than the situation I’m facing?

 

Because that’s often where the breakthrough begins.

 

No one can take away what you become.

 

That summer of lifting weights didn’t just change my body.

 

It changed the course of my life.

 

It eventually led me into health and coaching, where I’ve had the privilege of helping hundreds—perhaps more than a thousand—people become stronger physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.

 

That’s how real transformation works.

 

It starts on the inside.

 

Looking back, I’m actually grateful for that bully.

 

He unknowingly became one of my greatest teachers.

 

He forced me to discover strengths I didn’t know I possessed.

 

And I believe the same is true for you.

 

There is more inside you than you realize.

 

Your job isn’t to wish for different circumstances.

 

Your job is to create them by bringing out the person you’re capable of becoming.

 

Here's me after the transformation.

 

Wishing you the courage to become everything you were created to be,

 

Bert

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