I was bullied throughout my entire academic career.  From early primary school all the way to my senior year in high school.  I never experienced physical bullying, but as a child going through puberty, I was constantly harassed and belittled by people who were no better than me.  I will never understand how or why they chose me.  I will never understand why time after time I went to administration it never stopped.

After I graduated in January of 2013, my life totally changed.  I love getting up in the morning; I love being around my friends and family (the few which stuck by my side throughout middle and high school).  I am absolute living proof that every time someone tells you "It will get better after high school," they aren't lying.  It takes so much perseverance and it takes looking at the people who LOVE you, not just like you.  Your life has a beautiful meaning and purpose and no child that is in the same boat you are has any right to tell you it doesn't.  There is beauty in every person; there is a meaning in every person; and there is love for every person.

We shouldn't refer to ourselves as 'victims' of bullying; we should refer to ourselves as SURVIVORS of bullying, because that is EXACTLY what we are.  Only the people that have been there understand exactly what it is like to be able to say, "I am a survivor of bullying."