We’ve all heard the saying before “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.”

I heard that a lot when I was younger, and as much as I wanted to believe it was true, I quickly realized it wasn’t. The truth of the matter is, the words people say truly do hurt and they stay with people a lot longer than some may think.

Want to know something about words? When I was in sixth and seventh grade, I was picked on for the way I dressed. Something so silly, because people should be able to express themselves the way they want to. But since I wasn’t wearing the same things as the “cool kids,” I was wrong for wearing what I liked.

Those words, stares and silent judgments haunted me for a long time. It had a huge impact on me and the way I dressed. I would constantly question whether or not they’d pick on me again or if it’d be OK that day. The worst part about that is people get picked on way worse than the types of clothes they are wearing.

See, the words that hurt me slowly wore off, and I stopped caring. But what about when the people who are picking on your personality, your looks, who your family is, or just about any of the things you can’t change? Then, the words stay longer. Some people realize these words hurt and affect people long after they are said and others don’t.

And some people, well, some people just don’t care.

So what do we do about these words that really do hurt just as bad as sticks and stones? We can let them hover over us and influence our every mood or we can just accept them and try our best to move on. Now, I recognize it isn’t always that easy, but try to think about it this way.

After that now recognizably small experience, in seventh grade, I learned from it. I learned that if I’m happy with the way I look, who I am as a person and my personality then why should I let this one person or this small group of people change my view on myself entirely?

The answer was that I shouldn’t.

Instead of keeping this pent up anger against that person or those people and letting it change me in an entirely negative way, I learned from it. I recognized how words do hurt, but it made me a better person because I knew how it felt so I always did my best not to make others feel the same way those people made me feel.

Was I always successful?

No, probably not, because nobody is perfect. But did it make me a more conscious and all around better person towards others?

Yes, it absolutely did.

You don’t always know what someone is going through and how the words you say could affect them. Try to turn those mean words that’ll hurt just as bad as sticks and stones into a nice “Hey, how are you today?” Or a “Wow, I really love your top!”

Simple things to say, aren’t they? The thing about those things are that they can turn someone’s day around for the better and not make it worse.