Being Bullied

The bullying started in primary school, almost right from the start I was the different one in the class. Having had lengthening rods fitted at five, them needing lengthening every six or so months, infections - I missed out on a lot of school. I missed out on making those core friendships. It didn't really start horrifically, it was just the odd name calling, excluding me from groups, friendships. It was something manageable and didn't really effect me massively until I reached 7 or 8.

As time passed and we grew up, the names grew worse. I remember every single name they called me and even to this day it still effects me, it's still something ringing in the back of my head. Shark Back, Hunch Back, Sp*stic, there was so many more. If I was to touch something, and they were to also they'd say things like "Katie germs no returns!"

I was only at school for a few hours a day due to my poor health but I hated it. I was lonely there, I had one friend out of the 60+ kids in my year group. I dreaded going into school, I knew what was coming everyday, I knew what I'd have to face - and it grew worse when they turned physical towards me.

It made things worse that the school accused me of lying about it, telling me that I was making it up. No matter how many times that my family and I tried to tell the school what was happening they wouldn't believe me and completely denied what was happening.

When it came to leaving primary school, I left them all behind. I went to a different school compared to everyone else due to the risk of health and safety at the high school I was meant to go too, so I was thankfully away from them. They couldn't get to me anymore.

In High School, you could say I was bullied. I was extremely poorly in my high schools years and missed more school than ever before, again missing out on making relationships with my peers. I was completely excluded from everyone else and just like primary school, I was called some names and I hated it just as much as I did primary school.

By the time someone has reached the age seventeen+, you'd think they know better than to bully someone, but for me this was proved completely wrong when a girl I worked with started throwing verbal abuse at me every week. I would often come home from work so upset from the things that she had said to me during my shift. Thankfully, the managers believed it was happening, they called her out and had to speak to her on countless occasions. For a majority of my time at this job towards the end I washed up, the one thing she told me that stuck out the most was; "you're washing up, because that's all your capable of." But I know that I'm capable of so much more and have proved so.

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What I wanted to say out of this blog post, as well as raise awareness around anti bullying is that; bullying is something that's NEVER okay. Whether it be cyber, verbal, physical etc.

It doesn't matter what you have going on in your life, it's never okay or acceptable to treat a person in such a horrible way and cause them the pain of being bullied, which nobody should ever had to deal with. If you've ever bullied someone, you may forget what you did or said but I can assure you, the person you bullied hasn't.

If you're being bullied or know someone who is, please tell someone. You're not alone in this and shouldn't have to deal with it that way either. Talk to your teacher, family, friend or even a helpline. Just always remember that you're not alone and it won't last forever.

Helplines and Support

Visit the Ant-Bullying Pro website: http://www.antibullyingpro.com/support-centre

Childline: 0800 1111 or https://www.childline.org.uk/

Samaritans: 116 123 or http://www.samaritans.org/

National Bullying Helpline: 0845 22 55 787 or nationalbullyinghelpline.co.uk

#bullying #antibullying