From the time I was in middle school all the way up to my junior year in high school, I remember being bullied by at least one person every year. I'd always been slightly weird, whether it was my appearance, how smart I was, or just my interests; someone always had something negative about me. They would find the smallest things to point out about me and make me feel bad about it; whether it was my big hair, the fact that I liked alternative and rock music instead of rap, or that I liked to read books for fun. Being young of course I had doubts about myself and the bullies only helped to enhance those fears and doubts.

I began to hate every little thing about myself, I was so self conscious about everything I did, everything I wore and everything I said. I didn't want to be singled out anymore, so I stopped talking during class, I began sitting in the back of the room in an attempt not to be noticed. I was literally living my life in fear of being bullied, scared everyday that I would go into class and my bullies would be there, ready to hurt me all over again. And I continued to live in fear of being bullied for the first two years that I was in high school, until I made a new friend. She had just moved to my home town and we were both on the school newspaper; not to mention we were in the same math class. She was a very nice, polite, girl, and because she was so nice and quiet the people in our math class who bullied me began to bully her as well. They were always meaner to her because she held them to a higher standard than they held themselves, if they were harassing a substitute teacher she would speak up about it or call them out on their behavior. What amazed me about her was that she didn't care what people had to say about her, she would speak her mind and speak out against our bullies without any thought about what they would say or do to her.

She was my first stepping stone into becoming more confident in myself, her ability to ignore the bullies and be who she was gave me the courage to do the same. Once I started to ignore the bullies, I could focus more on my classes, ask questions I'd always been afraid to ask, out of fear that they would pick on me, and started to really embrace who I was. And after a point, my bullies began to leave me alone; I never knew if it was because I wasn't giving them the attention they wanted, or if they started to become more focused on their own lives, but either way I was finally free. I never turned back either, I continued to be who I wanted, someone I was proud of, regardless of what other's said. Now as a senior in college I am living a life that I can be proud of, embracing all of my weird tendencies and not caring what people around me have to say. We only have one life to live, why live it in fear of being made fun of for being who you really are. Always embrace who you are, regardless of what the people around you say; they aren't you, and if they're bashing you it's because they see a quality in you that they don't have in themselves.

You are an amazing human being, with amazing qualities; don't ever let anyone make you feel bad for being who you really are.