There are six billion people in the world, six billion faces, souls, smiles and six billion stories. Each story has a different hero and a different challenge. Each challenge has a different beauty. Each person is a culmination of the experiences they have had. Looking back at my twenty-four years of experience, the most difficult experiences have made me who I am today.
One such experience is when I was bullied as a student in 2010. It’s a very odd feeling being a kind of laughing stock of your class. As a teenager, you are bothered by what do people think about you, if they want to be your friend. No one would want to be friends with someone who is aloof or awkward. Its an entirely different process which messes you up, it drains you emotionally.
How do I explain how I would brace myself to go the school every day and face girls who were much more intelligent, better looking than I was. They would play tricks, make fun of me, the way I stand, the way I walk. I was secluded and ostracized. When it happens, you lose your worth, you become blind sighted, you start looking at yourself through their eyes. But the one thing it did was it made me reflective. It made me realize how I had mistreated people in the past. It made me a better person. Grade 9 was a personally challenging for me as it was academically rigorous and I shifted sections where everyone was exceptionally bright but I managed with flying colors and academics became a friend.
It was after losing my worth, I gained my worth. I put all of my might and mettle into studying and I came out as a topper with a perfect CGPA. When you have nothing to lose, it is easy moving forward. When the head is a mess, the body suffers too. But this experience taught to be by myself no matter what. I developed a comfort sustainable zone where I would be happy, be sad all by myself. And if you think I died alone, I did not. It is easier to get along with others when you get along with yourself. Once you start liking yourself, others start liking you too. It’s like they say, Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass, it is about learning how to dance in the rain. This experience made me a better friend and a better person. It gave me immense confidence in myself and it taught how important friends and family are. To anybody going through a rough patch, know that you are far stronger than you think you are.
