A couple years back, I managed a fitness gym in Arizona. For quite some time my friends had been telling me to go out and get my personal training certification. I kept putting it off.

Then one day a friend of mine, whose office was located in the gym, pulled me onto his office. He said, ‘Ed, what if I were to tell you that the gym was going to close down next week, what would you do?’ And jokingly I said I would probably go out and get my personal training certification this week. And he said, ‘Ed, we are closing down next Wednesday.’

So I got on a plane Friday afternoon, drove out to Santa Fe, took my certification test, got back on a plane Saturday evening back to Arizona. The following Monday, I found out that I passed the test. That evening, my boss came and told me they were going to close the gym.

I was out of work for 3 months. I had to sell my car. Money was running out. I was barely eating once a day, sometimes not at all. But throughout my trials and tribulations, I thought about my brother. He has cerebral palsy and brain damage. Every time I got down on myself or depressed, I thought about him, about what he’s gone through in his life.

Thinking about him wheelchair-bound, making every effort to eat, making every effort to talk, making every effort to get out of that chair and walk and not being able to do so, and him still able to wake up every morning with a happy face, not giving up, I said to myself, ‘My situation is nothing compared to his. So pull yourself up by the pants and just take care of business.’

I walked out to 24 Hour Fitness and asked for a job. ‘Here’s my certification, I’d like to come and be a personal trainer.’ I was starving, but no one could see it on my face.

I guess you would say my aha moment was the fact that I lost my job and had a choice, you know, to either give up or follow my natural path to make a difference in people’s life through health and fitness.

I draw my inspiration from my brother. I think of him every single moment, every single second. My wanting to put myself in a sound financial position, taking care of him and my family. If my parents leave this earth before we do, we don’t have to worry about where and how he’s going to be taken care of.

An aha moment for me is a moment when you have to step outside of yourself, outside of your comfort zone. It’s a moment when you have to make a choice. It’s a life changing experience.