I have been a victim of bullying my entire life,
My case isn't as bad as many cases but it still deeply effects me.
Causing me to have Social Anxiety.
When I was born the doctors saw that i had a hole where my nose and upper lip didn't connect properly, this was a rare thing because many people with a cleft only have either a Cleft Lip or a Cleft Palate. I was born with both, this came as a big shock to my parents and they where upset and shocked when the found out what I would have to go through.
When i was in Primary School this is when the bullying started, kids in my class started to notice that there was something odd about my nose (shaped different) they picked on my for it, at first it didn't really bother me but it kept getting worse and worse as i got older, people would laugh about it and ask me "did you get hit in the face with a shovel", no matter how hard i tried to ignore it they kept pointing it out, then kids where I lived began to pick on my for it calling me "flat-nose". It got to the point where I didn't want to go to school and I didn't want to leave the house and I would cry when I came back from school. This started my anxiety!
When the end of primary school came I was so happy to get away from all those people that would bully me about how I looked but then it started to hit me that I was going to a new school, with new people, people I had never met before, this terrified me!
When i started Secondary School I walked in with my head held high hoping no one would notice but of course they did, some kids in my class began to annoy me about it, asking me why I was ugly and calling me ugly. The girls in my class were always whispering to each other about me and the way I looked different.
I would cry when I came home from school as I was telling my parents about what people where saying and I began to ask myself "Why cant i be normal" because of the kids in my new school, I developed a fear of meeting anyone knew because i would be terrified of what they would think of me. I never spoke in front of the class even when the teacher tried to force me to but they had no idea why I was so scared, they just said I was "too shy" which I was but not for the reason they thought.
When I went to see my Surgeon, he would ask me if I was getting any comments made about my appearance and I told him everything and he was absolutely furious about it. Him,my parents, my grandparents are the reason why I stopped listening to the bullies.
They would say:
"Listen to me, no matter what those people call you or say about you, you have to show that it doesn't bother you because they will see that it annoys you and they will keep doing it. Your beautiful in your own way, don't let anyone ruin you. Keep your head high and ignore the pathetic people who have nothing better to do than pick out others flaws, no ones perfect, you make your own definition of perfect!"
That quote ^^ is what i live by! Anyone who might be reading this that has been bullied listen to the words in that quote and rise above the people putting you down. No one deserves to be treated like they are nothing!!
Sorry about the long post (:
Byee, thanks for reading (:
