When I graduated high school, I swore I would never set foot on that campus again.

For me, high school was 4 years of being bullied in ways I'll never forget. It was coming home and being made fun of on social media, including the nasty invention of ask.fm and it's anonymous glory. It was the backhanded comments that people would flippantly make, not knowing how heavily they would weigh on my mind.

All the times I was told I had a big forehead or that I ran weird during gym, that I was the definition of awkward or tormented by (literally) a hundred classmates online stuck with me. I was even bothered to the point that I skipped out on a photography field trip because I couldn't handle being around the girls in my group, only to find out later that the teacher had made nasty comments about me to other students on the trip.

The bullying cut deep scars into my self-worth and self-confidence that I still struggle with today. It was the reason I looked to things like self harm in a desperate attempt to control some sort of pain.

Recently, I broke the oath to myself that I would never go back to my high school. My younger sister was participating in a few volleyball camps there and I had to take her. For the first camp, I sat in the parking lot but for the second one, I decided to watch her. Halfway through, I walked to the bathroom. A rush of painful memories followed.

This was the bathroom right outside the lunchroom where I would sit and cry silently during my lunch hour.

Yeah, embarrassing to look back at, I know. I looked at myself in the mirror and thought about all the times I was in here, wishing I could be anywhere else. When I walked out, I had a realization: I was thankful for all the people who made my life hell during those 4 years.

Without being bullied, I never would've discovered my true need in life for writing. I used my talent to write for the school paper, as well as to pour out the feelings I didn't know how to deal with. I learned how to spot real friends from fake ones and discovered that when you find a genuinely good person, you keep them in your life. While I still hold many of the insecurities about my physical appearance that people used to so unkindly point out, I have also developed a good fashion sense and taught myself how to confidently flaunt whatever the hell I want.

I taught myself how to not care if people didn't like me.

I became an outspoken, outgoing person who wasn't afraid to strike up a conversation with the person next to me in class. I started raising my hand in class without the fear of people making fun of what I had to say. Most importantly, high school brought me my wonderful, loving boyfriend who I am still with today.

While sometimes I wish that I didn't have to go through all of that just to learn these lessons, I'm thankful that I came out the other side still able to see the positives. So, to all the high school bullies that made my life an unending hell, thank you. Thank you for helping me realize that I needed to live my life MY way without caring what anyone else has to say about it. That has and will continue to drive me to do great things and for that, I am grateful.