My bullies made me stronger

When you’re bullied, life gets harder – fact. But as Chloe goes on to tell us, you can beat the bullies. Here’s her personal experience of being bullied throughout school and how she made it out the other side as a more confident, stronger person.

I was bullied from Year 3 until Year 11, and through it all, I can say I came out a better person, a stronger person, and didn’t let them see the damage. I developed anxiety and lost friends, but made stronger relationships. The bullies saw the original Chloe, the vulnerable Chloe, but after GCSEs, they saw the stronger Chloe, the Chloe who didn’t care about what other people thought, because I realised that life was too short, and it was time to start living. 

My bullying story is a bit all over the place, it started off as jokey banter I would say, but then it started to cross a line and the jokes got personal. Rumours were made and insults were thrown my way, it was almost like I didn't have a place in that primary school anymore. But I refused to move school and let the bullies win. 

In Year 6, it got physical. She “fell” onto my chest, which caused pain and bruising, and it just escalated until it came to the point where the teachers had to step in before I had even said anything to them. When Year 7 came round, it went back to mental and emotional bullying, which was fine because it happened a lot less often. 

Why was I bullied? I was seen as a teacher’s pet, and didn't look the same as everyone else, I suppose. I wasn't popular, I came from a separated (some would say dysfunctional) family, and I was quiet. 

People who have been bullied know that it can break a person, and it can take quite a while to get back on track. It can send you down one of two paths. The first is letting it get to you and affect you, and not being able to live life normally. And the second path is where you let your experiences motivate you – and that’s what I did. No matter what path you choose, you won't be the person you were before the bullying started.

When I was being bullied, I would say I was a bit paranoid. I would always think about what other people thought of me and that's not the way to live your life. The way I moved on was simple. When I would think and worry about what people thought of me, but then I started thinking, “Who cares what they think of me? That's just their opinion and they're entitled to that. The only opinion of me that should matter, is my own.”. It took me almost 9 years to realise that it was time to love myself and take care of my mental state.

Everyone thought I was too quiet, and too in my shell to do or achieve anything, and I proved them wrong. They never thought they would see the Chloe I became in Sixth Form. They thought I would stay quiet and to myself, but instead, I proved that I wasn't the quiet teacher’s pet that everyone thought I was. I became the confident Chloe that they never thought I could be, and it proved all the bullies who moved up to Sixth Form with me wrong.