On Tuesday, about 1,200 Lowndes County middle school students heard from Marc Mero, a retired professional wrestler turned motivational speaker, about the perils of bullying and the keys to happiness and success.
The self-proclaimed “happiest man on the planet” shared his story of “tragedy and triumph” inside Rent Auditorium at Mississippi University for Women. The event was hosted by the Junior Auxiliary of Columbus and MUW’s Education Department.
Mero told the crowd about growing up being bullied for being poor; the ups and downs of his success in athletics as an all-star football and hockey athlete, a New York State boxing champion and World Wrestling Entertainment wrestler; and of his struggles in relationships with family members, many of whom died before Mero realized their importance.
He argued for compassion and positivity, as well as actively striving for and consistently reminding oneself of one’s goals.
He spoke of his “first setback” as one that many students might identify with: his parent’s divorce — and watching his mother struggle to support he and his siblings in the “drug and gang infested” area of New York City where they lived.
“I dreamt of a better life,” Mero said, adding it was then he began to write his goals on paper. He stressed his belief in the importance of writing down and seeing one’s goals. He gave out goal cards to the students, and said that during his nine years as a motivational speaker, he has been sent the cards by students who have completed the goals. He said he sometimes gets as many as 100 notes a day from those impacted by his speeches.
“The best way to accomplish your goals is to write them down and put it somewhere where you have to see it,” he said, adding in 2008, he decided to write a book and wrote “book 2010” on a Post-It note he stuck to his computer.
Mero accomplished the goal. Mero published first book, “How to be the Happiest Person on the Planet,” in 2010.
“There it is: dream, goal, deadline,” he said, reminding the students not to “base limitations on whatever someone else says.”
He shared how, in the midst of a successful boxing career, he broke his nose and was forced to sit out for a year and became involved with the wrong crowd. Eventually, addiction to drugs and alcohol took over and he did not recommit himself to success again until he was in his 30s and decided on a whim to train to become a WWE wrestler after watching it with friends one night on television. Mero stressed the importance of making the correct choices in terms of making friends and placing importance on family.
“We become who we surround ourselves with,” he said. “Friends are like elevators: They’re going to take you up or they’re going to take you down.”
Instead of a focusing entirely on bullying, Mero’s speech focused on staying true to good values and good people, and striving towards truth and happiness in every day life as means of tackling the subject.
“We all have an impact on each other’s lives,” he said, adding that it’s never too late to change one’s ways. “Stand up for people, we need leaders, need future champions.”
He mentioned his own feelings of depression and hopelessness, and how in 2003 he almost took his life on a pier Christmas Day following the deaths of his parents and siblings and many of his WWE friends to drug overdoses and suicide, and the end of his first marriage due to his own missteps and addiction.
“I felt hopeless and experienced real depression for the first time,” he said. “I would have never known how beautiful life would be… I never would have known the joy of changing lives.”
He said despite the millions of dollars he made in his WWE career he “was empty inside,” and has only found true joy through sharing his story and helping others.
“Let my heartbreak be your wakeup call,” he said.
Sam Luvisi is news editor and covers education for The Dispatch.
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