Today I am writing about a topic that I'm sure every girl (or guy) has dealt with at some point in their life. Starting in middle school, I was bullied a lot. Not just the kind of bullying that is little comments here and there, my case was a bit more severe. I was not only being harassed at school, but on social networking and at my job as well. This lasted for 6 years. When I was being bullied, I felt very alone, depressed and developed a negative self-esteem. I started to believe that there was something wrong with me, not the girls that were bullying me. As a result of being bullied, I spent a lot of time by myself. Its not that I wanted to, but I soon realized that it was better to have few friends then have the wrong kind of friends.
After I graduated, I was eager to go onto college and leave those bullies behind. Sadly, they spent a year after graduation continuing to bully me at my job. Thankfully, they no longer work with me but I'd be lying if I said I didn't get anxious when I see them in public. Once I got to college and I tried to make friends, I truly realized what peer pressure was. It is not typical that a college student doesn't want to go to parties and drink alcohol. I soon realized that me not wanting to drink, go to clubs, spend extravagant amounts of money to "keep up with the Joneses'" and pretty much make a fool of myself for attention excluded me from a lot of things.
Even though I'm 20 years old, I still find myself faced with this choice a lot: do I want to do something that I'm against so that I fit in or do I want to stay true to myself? Thankfully, I have always chosen to stay true to myself. However, I know that making that choice is not as easy for everyone. Even though I want an amazing group of friends, I want the right kind of friends. Friends that respect me and my values, don't pressure me, and I would love to find friends with similar morals as I. I would be lying if I said that being excluded didn't hurt. But, I've let that hurt motivate me in other ways. I work on school work, go to the gym, paint, read blogs and do other things when I'm feeling down. Its okay to feel upset about being left out, but always remember that its their loss. If you have an uneasy feeling about something, don't do it. Trust your instincts and remember that you cannot reach your full potential if you aren't true to yourself.
I want to share some of my favorite quotes with you that always remind me about what I truly want in life!
Don't give up what you want most for what you want now.
Stay true to yourself because there are very few people that will stay true to you.
Life is funny. Things change, people change, but you will always be you, so stay true to yourself and never sacrifice who you are for anyone else.
The worst thing is to be successful as someone else.
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