Now, I don't mean that literally or that bullying becomes even more painful with age. What I do mean is that bullying eases with age for a variety of reasons. If you're being bullied now, hopefully, this will make you motivated to continue, knowing that the pain you feel today won't last forever. It will stop and when it does, you'll be a much stronger person and you'll see for yourself, the things that are discussed in this take.
When we're in high school, we care too much about things that shouldn't matter like being popular, how many friends we have, how we look or fitting in. Due to this, we care about people's opinions of us a little too much, so when someone insults us or puts us down, we take it to heart and can start believing what they say to be true. However, as you get older, you start to develop a "don't care" attitude and not in a bad sense; you simply start caring about the things that actually matter and you find it easier to dismiss the opinions of those who aren't important to you or your life.
When I was in high school, if I heard someone snigger about me, it would hit my feelings like a punch to the chest, make me paranoid and ruin my day. In college, if it happens, I just smile and don't let it bother me at all because I know there's nothing wrong with me; it's the insecurities of the bullies that's the problem.
Another reason as to why bullying reduces as you get older, is that the bullies themselves grow up and realise it's not normal or acceptable behaviour. Sometimes, they learn more about themselves, ask themselves why they're bullying in the first place and sort out that inner conflict they have and soon stop bullying. This doesn't always happen though; you can still have adult bullies who will never mature and realise their behaviour is destructive, but seeing as most people mature when they get older and develop that "don't care" attitude, they're less likely to put up with bullies.
In my college, there are some girls who still have not grown up and bitch about everyone and anyone. It's literally all they do. Because of this, everyone dislikes them and leaves them to gossip; it's obviously one of the few things that brings them enjoyment in life. We all turn our noses up at them and let them gossip about us because we know that we're the better person for not retaliating or showing our feelings. We basically let them think they're "winning" and that it gets to us, but in our minds, they're the outcasts and all we care about is getting our college
qualification. It's a lot easier to deal with such people with dignified, mature silence, but if they step out of line, some students aren't afraid to speak up. No-one supports these girls or thinks they're good people, so no-one gives them respect they think they'll get by intimidating people. If they say something bad about someone, everyone's quick to support the "victim" and frown upon the bullies.
Eventually, those girls are going to have to get a job, be apart from each other (they work in a group) and they will have to change their attitude and behaviour otherwise they'll remain unemployed. They'll be forced to deal with their behaviour head on.
Those kinds of bullies are late bloomers into adulthood and shouldn't be of any concern to anyone. Or to you.
If you feel like the bullying you're experiencing will never end, think about these realities and believe me, they do happen without fail (apart from those late bloomers). You will be able to get through this. You will be able to finish high school and potentially go through life without ever having to encounter a bully again! Even if you come across the late bloomers, you would've grown a hard exterior and no care attitude by then! They won't bother you half as much as they do now, I promise.
Stay hopeful, ambitious and most importantly, strong.
Most Helpful Opinions