I grew up in Eatonville, a small town in Central Florida. Like many children, I was a victim of emotional, verbal/physical abuse and bullying. One day, I told my mother about a particular instance of harsh verbal and physical abuse by my classmates, and I expected her to do something immediately to stop it. Instead, she shocked me with this statement: “If they’re not talking about you, you’re not doing something right.”

It dawned on me later that she was dealing with a higher truth, exposing me to a powerful gift that helped me both then and later in life. Bullies never died. They just grew up and became our bosses, co-workers and even our spouses and children. The real challenge was not what they thought about me, or even what they did to me. It was how I thought about myself and how proactive or reactive I was in uncomfortable situations. -Dr. Donald Tate