Trust Me, It Does Get Better...

Me now

For those that have read my blog before you’ll know that it’s very rare for me to actually do a personal post, the main reason is that (believe it or not) I don’t like talking about myself, especially my private life.

So, why do a personal post at all...

Well, I was recently asked to share a Doctor Who themed Anti Bullying page via Facebook. However rather than just share the page and then forget about it I’ve decided to share a few of my own experiences, the idea being if reading about what I went through helps someone else then it’s a positive thing.

On one of my early school reports my teacher described me as “an intelligent, friendly and extremely sensitive boy who my preferred his own company to that of others and showed issues with socialising”. In other words, I was never going to be one of the cool kids...

In my younger days I also had the issue of my mouth not being big enough for my jaw, the result my teeth stuck out which didn't look great.

So you’re now getting a picture of me as a boy, sensitive and a bit of a loner with sticky out teeth... Great! Then to this you need to add the fact that I wasn’t sporty and was a wargamer (you know, toy soldiers and tanks) and also didn’t really do popular music (the first album I ever owned was Bat Out of Hell by Meatloaf). All this combined meant I may as well have painted a big ol’ target on my chest saying ‘Bully me, you know you want to”.

As you can imagine I was bullied, a lot, from the age of about 7 to 17 to be honest with you.

Take it from me; it’s not nice and definitely not fun!

Back in the day, yep I was cool!

The sad thing is that I know bullying will probably always take place, you’re welcome to disagree with me but it is human nature to pick on those that are seen as different, it doesn’t matter the reason it’s going to happen at some point.

For me people had a selection of reasons to choose from, but they normally went for the obvious one, how I looked. The name Goof or Goofy was something that I was very familiar with!

But actually, it doesn’t really matter what actually happened to me when I was younger, why? Because I got through it and am a stronger person as a result.

The key thing to remember, if you’re feeling down or are being picked on, tell someone. Remember, you are not alone, if you tell somebody then it can be dealt with, no one has the right to make you feel bad or belittle you.

Everyone has the right to be themselves.

The reverse also applies, if you’re about to make a joke about someone stop and think, how would I feel if it was me. Just because someone makes a joke about you doesn’t make it ok for you to make jokes about other people.

Life should not be an eye for an eye; it should be do on to others as you would have them do to you.

The Guild: I'm the One That's Cool!