Bullying Changes You, But It Doesn’t Have To Define You

Being bullied changes how we see ourselves.

Being bullied makes us question our self-worth. You don’t have the confidence to believe that you could fit into a group with your peers. The enthusiasm to conquer a challenge is lost. The belief that others will cheer us on is also lost.

Being bullied changes our self-esteem and self-confidence. It makes you more conscious about the compliments you receive about yourself. It isolates you from the world because you feel like you don’t have a place that will accept you the way you are.

Being bullied makes it feel like anything you feel, think, say, or do is invalid.

When you’ve been bullied, you’re hurt, sad, and emotionally conflicted. The support isn’t always there because not everyone can relate or puts in an effort to emotionally invest, because they may have their own inner conflict or unresolved feelings on bullying.

Bullying does change you. It’s something that happened, and we can’t go back to prevent it from happening. We can’t change what has already happened to us. We can’t forget the things that have happened to us.

But you can still be happy.

Those experiences weren’t about you. Bullies deal with repressed anger and use it toward someone that they really aren’t mad at. They have inner turmoil within themselves. They need more help than you do.

You deserve to be loved and will be. It takes a lot of time to work on ourselves and even more if we decide to do it alone.

I know it’s cliche, but we are all in this together. The right people will come into your life and make you feel like you’re worthy of their time. The right people will make you feel like your opinions matter. The right people will make you feel like a valuable member of their life.

Bullies may have changed you, but they won’t ever define who you really are.