Bullying

[Author: Parthivi Mohunta, Young Adult & Author of Mumteen Reasons to Write]

Bullying. The word by itself has a sense of heaviness around it. By literal definition, bullying is the act of intimidating a weaker person to make them do something for you, or to make them feel smaller, or to make you feel better about yourself in some way shape or form. Bullying, at one point, used to be taking a person’s lunch money, or pushing them about and roughing them up a bit. But, like all things, bullying has evolved too, and not for the better. Earlier, to bully someone you had to be in their physical presence, but now, because of the blessing that is technology, you can be bullied in your own room, your own home.

When one thinks of the word ‘home’ warm images come to mind. A picture of your cozy unmade bed, the smell of your mothers cooking, perhaps the sight of your dog wagging his tail at your feet. When one thinks of the word home, one thinks of a safe haven, a place where you can be 100% authentically yourself.

Cyber Bullying is notorious for taking that feeling away. Suddenly your bed isn’t cozy enough, your mom’s food doesn’t make your mouth water anymore and your dog seems overly jovial and annoying. You could be surrounded by the people who love you most, and you could still feel hopelessly lost just because a stranger on the internet decided that today, you would be their outlet of frustration.

As someone who has gone through this multiple times, I know how much it can suck. It’s one of the worst feelings you could ever have. That being said, I also know that it gets better. Sure, you are gonna cry and you are gonna feel horrible but it doesn’t last forever. In fact, it doesn’t last for half as long as you think it will. One day you’re going to wake up and you’re going to realize that the only opinion that matters about you, is YOURS (and maybe your moms or your best friends too, but definitely not a random persons who think they know you). I don’t know exactly when that day will come, but I do know this, it WILL come.

Here are my 3 key takeaways from this experience:

Not everyone’s going to like you. It’s inevitable and the sooner we learn that the better. But no matter what they say or do, you’ve gotta keep doing your thing
No matter what happens, don’t retaliate. The only reason they’re doing this is to get some sort of reaction out of you, and if you give them that, then they win. Don’t let them have that satisfaction.
This one person’s opinion shouldn’t change who you are. Just keep being unapologetically yourself and everything else will work itself out. You’re not alone and so many people love you, so don’t let this one person pull you down.