As you grow up the way bullies bully changes. When you are little it’s them teasing you, “Your hair looks funny” or “your shirt is weird”. When you’re a teenager, for boys, it’s being beat up, and pushed into lockers. For girls, it’s bullying that affects you mentally, constantly trying to tear you down. The people who decide that it is their purpose in life, to make you feel like you are less than you are remember, they are only trying to bring you down because they are already there. They are the lowest of the low and you are better than them. They are concerned and scared that if you know you are above them they will look weak (which they are). I am in my early 20’s and I have been dealing with this almost every day of my life. You are going to have bullies all your life and you can do one of two options. You can let them hurt you and tear you down, or, you can take their criticisms and prove them wrong.

In the past I would have let it get to me. I would have let it eat me alive and destroy me inside and out. Many people do any different things to cope with bullying, some in good ways, and others in self destructive ways. After years of bullying some people can not handle it anymore, and that is why suicide is at the highest it has ever been in our country. People use self mutilation as a way to cope, believing that it is the only pain they control. So this is a question to all the bullies out there who are happy with themselves for putting someone else down and making them feel like they are less than they are, how does it feel to be the reason that someone ends their life or put scars on their body?

If you are that person who thinks that way, that it’s the only pain that you can control, try one of these therapy techniques that seem to help many others:

• Pull and release a hairband or rubber band on your wrist.
• Take a book and write down what makes you happiest in the entire world, when you feel like doing self destructive behavior read the list.
• Take a pen or a marker instead of any other object and write where you think you need to hurt yourself, write the words “I love you” “you are worth it” or any lyrics or sayings that mean a lot to you.

Remember that when someone is trying to bring you down, in any way, that you are above them. You are better than any person that tries to make you small. You are strong and you are destined for greatness. You are not the problem. The people who try and tear you down, they are the problem.

If you are the bully that tries to tear someone down, or if you are reading this and think that it is about you, know that it is. You need to think about how you affect other people, trying to take something away from them is pathetic and wrong. You are not better than anyone else. That is not saying that you are not talented in some aspect, but you have no right to take something that makes someone else happy because you want to feel better about yourself. That doesn't make you a better person, that makes you a coward and frankly I feel sorry for you. So the next time that you want to tear someone down for something that they work hard on and are proud of, remember you don’t know what they are battling. You don’t know their demons. Be kind to people. Take responsibility for your actions and apologize to anyone you ever made feel bad about something that was important to them.