Rebekah Broadbent
Richard
ENG-121-OL05
12 April 2020
Narrative Essay
Growing up, a person goes through various challenges and experiences. Some of the experiences give us fond memories, but some leave behind physical and emotional scars that live with us for a long time. Every experience a person goes through in life plays a significant role in shaping their character and personality. One of the most significant challenges that I experienced is bullying because it adversely affected my ability to socialize with people and, to some extent, my personality. Through bullying, I have learned to speak out, to appreciate life and people.
Throughout my childhood and adolescence, I was a victim of bullying at school because of my weight. At first, the bullying was verbal, but with time it became physical to point where the bullies began beating me up and throwing me into the school bins. I remember an instance in 2nd grade, where a bully stabbed my right thigh with a sharp pencil when I tried to fight back. I still have a blue mark from the stab, which acts as a permanent souvenir. When I was in the 8th grade, a girl grabbed me by the neck and pushed me towards the wall while I was heading to the playgrounds. I remember my head hitting the wall, which left a permanent scar on my forehead. It became worse when my best friend became part of the bullies, probably after being fed with lies about me. The constant bullying made me resort to avoid people to the extent that during recess, I would sit all alone in the field reading a novel and sometimes hide in the washrooms. Sometimes I would be bullied during lessons where the bullies would use me as an example when requested by the teacher to construct sentences in a class, which would make the students burst in laughter. It was so embarrassing, which made me dread going to school, and I would intentionally miss classes severally to keep away from the bullies.
Coming from a family where both parents were working, I rarely had time to interact with my parents, which made it hard for me to share my experiences in school. The only person I would associate with was my nanny, but I still found it hard to share with her. Furthermore, I figured that bullying would end once I joined high school. Once I entered high school, the situation was no different. I reunited with some of the bullies from the previous school who, besides continuing teasing me, began influencing some of my new classmates against me. The emotional and physical bullying continued until one particular day in my senior year when one of the bullies insulted me, and I remember warning him to leave me alone, but he did not. I whirled a chair at him with all the energy that I could muster, and although the chair did not hit him, it broke down into pieces. I did not stop there, for I ran after him, grabbed his neck, and strangled him until some friends came to his rescue. I was so fed up that if it were not for his friends, I would have killed him. After the incident, no one dared to mess with me.
The years of being bullied at school made me grow up into a miserable individual, and I remember contemplating suicide on several occasions. At the time, my life was full of pain and devoid of self-confidence. Interestingly, although teachers were aware of the bullying, they never took any action. Ironically, some teachers would join in laughing at me when the students made fun of me in class. As for my parents, they came to learn of my situation at school after my grades deteriorated, and it is then that I dared to open up to them.
In most circumstances, victims of bullying are told to “man-up” or grow a thick skin, as though they are responsible for what they are going through. The emotional and psychological effects do not conclude when school does, and the wounds run deep and can progress into the child’s adult life. After being bullied for the better part of my childhood life, my social life was immensely affected. I still have a hard time making friends since I have the notion that anyone who wants to be a friend is only pretending so that he can ridicule me because of my weight. I am still struggling to lose weight, and my love for junk food does not make it any easier. Also, I have been working on regaining self-confidence, and my parents have been instrumental in helping me learn about self-love and in appreciating myself for the person I am regardless of what others think of me.
Experiencing bullying first-hand has made me learn that the only way to overcome bullying is by speaking up and developing interests and self-confidence. Also, having a support system that encourages self-love and learning how to appreciate oneself goes a long way. After years of dwelling in self-pity and low self-esteem, I have learned to relax my soul, mind, and body, and most importantly, I have learned how to love and appreciate myself.
.