How many of you have ever been victimized before? Whether it was a snide comment someone made as you walked passed them, being laughed at in public, or even having negative things plastered about you on a social networking site. How many of you stood up for yourselves when it happened?
Marilyn Manson once stated, "We live in a society of victimization, where people are much more comfortable being victimized than actually standing up for themselves."
Everyday, people get criticized for doing something that someone else finds to be strange or unusual. And instead of standing up for themselves, they go about their day as if it didn't bother them at all. But you and I both know, it did. Nobody should let others victimize them and get away with it. You shouldn't let someone victimize you for being true to yourself.
Often times, people, especially teens, will let their self-conscious side outshine everything else about them; allowing themselves to be ridiculed. Teens are too worried about what others think, act, or say to even bother defending themselves and be who they are.
Guess what? These people that victimize you and bring you down won't be in your life forever. They have no significant role in your life, and will forget what cruel things they did to you five minutes later. You will become a distant memory to them. And what will you be doing? You'll be looking back and wondering, why didn't I speak up for myself?
If you don't realize that you're better off standing up for yourself than remaining silent, you'll go on with your life scared to be you and afraid to do anything without someone else's approval. Your comfort zone may entail keeping quiet but overtime, will you really be happy that you never had faith in yourself to speak out?
Each and every single person deserves to have faith in themselves. Life begins at the end of your comfort zone. Once you choose to stick up for yourself, I guarantee you'll feel a lot better.
I used to be afraid to stick up for myself. I would worry that I had to think like other people to be accepted. But I found that I will still be accepted by the people that matter to me even if I speak out and be myself. At the end of the day, that's what really matters.
Bottom line, don't let the comfortable, known feeling of keeping quiet, keep you from speaking out when being victimized. Each and every single person deserves to have someone stand up for them. And who better to do that, than you.