Chances are if anyone met me today they would have no idea I used to be the target of bullying throughout middle school. My current life is extremely different than it was when I was first in my pre- teenage, and eventually into my teenage years. Growing up in an extremely preppy town has taught me two things: I hate polo shirts and rich snobs. I have always been a little bit different, and by a little bit I mean a lot. I was picked on and left out of parties and lunch tables ever since I can remember, which is something most kids go through at least once in their lives. At the time, it hurt me but I knew I was better off without without the prissy girls who were more concerned about whether or not their lip gloss was poppin'. The bullying I experienced in middle school didn't really impact me much until I was a sophomore and junior in high school. 

     By my junior year, I lost two friends to unfortunate deaths, dated a boy who would only hang out with me if he was high, battling depression, suffering from an eating disorder without even being aware of it at the time, and had developed an obsession with cutting and burning myself- while being able to successfully fool everybody around me by being outgoing and happy when in people's company. My self image issues started after my boyfriend at the time and I broke up and he started dating a girl who weighed no more than 90 pounds. I kept having flashbacks to what the mean girls would say about me in high school about me being pudgy and short, and I think it eventually caught up to me. I would eat carrot sticks and soup, and go to the gym constantly and results quickly showed. I dropped a quick 15 pounds in a little over two weeks and I was haunted by the need to prove the bullies from the past 6 years wrong. Over time, I have struggled to realize the simple fact that some people are just mean- and just because they would call me fat, it didn't necessarily mean I was actually fat. To this day, I still am sometimes reminded of their cruel words, and they echo in the back of my head, and still lead to self harming tendencies. The best advice I could give to somebody who is being bullied is to step back from the situation, realize that one person or group of people can not dictate your whole life, and that inside yourself somewhere is the inner strength to stay strong. 

-Anonymous