Want to know all the facts about bullying? Here is everything you need to know.
There are certain facts about bullying that you must know before you can overcome it. These truths will encourage you to stand up to bullying and overcome it. How does she know, you may ask. Because they did me.
Therefore, in this post, you will learn the crucial facts about bullying so you can stand up and defend yourself.
Once you learn all about these life-changing truths, you will be encouraged to take care of yourself and take back your power.
This post gives you all the facts about bullying that you need to gather the courage to stand up to it and take your life back.
Facts about Bullying
Before you can gather the courage to stand up to bullying, there are hard truths you need to know. These are facts that I had to learn the hard way. So, let’s dive right in!
Here they are.
1. Bullying and freedom cannot coexist.
Bullying and personal freedom can never coexist. Why? Because bullying is zero-sum. Always. When you suffer from bullying, it’s akin to being held hostage.
In essence, they bind and gag you. In short, they take away your personal power! And without that power, you have no freedom.
Either you’re free to be yourself, or people bully you for it. You either have personal power or people bully you and take it away.
Freedom means being free to be a human being and make mistakes. It also means being allowed to learn from those mistakes. However, when people constantly bully you for those things, that’s not freedom. It’s enslavement.
Instead, they brutally punish you for making mistakes that anyone else could’ve made. Moreover, anyone else would have gotten a pass because all humans make mistakes.
2. Facts about Bullying:
It takes away your humanity.
When you’re bullied, there’s no margin for error. On the other hand, if you’re fortunate enough to be on equal footing with everyone else around you, you have that luxury.
Others will look at you and realize that we’re all imperfect humans. Therefore, they’ll cut you some slack.
Understand that bullying dehumanizes you. Others either see you as a human being or they don’t. Bullying will strip you of any shred of humanity.
It renders you sub-human in the minds of not only bullies but, in many cases, bystanders.
Moreover, this process can happen quickly, in as little as a few months. Bullies bully you so frequently that bystanders grow accustomed to it and become desensitized.
And why not? They watch them brutalize you every day, sometimes several times per day.
3. No one likes a victim of bullying.
It’s a fact. No one respects a victim. No one likes a victim.
In your mind, you may not be a victim but a target. And that’s a good thing. However, because others see you being beaten down all the time, they will view you as a victim.
And most people don’t have the critical thinking skills to know the difference.
Therefore, you must document everything that happens in detail. Or you must find a way to leave the bullying environment. Otherwise, if it goes on long enough, it will take a toll on your mental health.
Your mental health is important here. You must take steps to reclaim your freedom.
4. Facts about Bullying:
You can never appease a bully.
Never! No matter what you do to satisfy the bullies. You may tell them what they want to hear. You may submit to them. And sure, they may go away and leave you alone. But only for the time being.
That small reprieve bullies give you will always be short-lived.
Why? Because your submission has always worked. It gave your bullies what they want. In your submission, you are rewarding their behavior.
You may have told them what they want to hear. Or you could have let them cheat off you during an exam. Maybe you allowed them to take credit for your idea
Nevertheless, you rewarded their behavior. Therefore, they will always come back for more. And the same goes whether you endure bullying in school, the workplace, or in your community.
Additionally, your bullies get psychological rewards from your having to constantly tiptoe around them. Why? Because it gives them a sense of power and domination.
Bullying is all about power… raw power! And they will never give that up. Not without a fight!
5. Facts about Bullying:
You can never submit your way out of being Bullied.
I cannot stress this enough. Again, you can never appease a bully. Any attempts to do so will only have the opposite effect.
Trying to appease a bully only makes you appear weak. It then emboldens them to come back for more later. Why? Because it is what has been working for them all along!
You will spend years jumping through hoops. You will bend yourself into a pretzel. And you will be stuck, wondering when your bullies will be back in your face again.
This is no way to live. Life is too short to waste one second being an emotional slave to someone else.
Eventually, you will need to take a hard stand before they will finally leave you alone. The last thing you want is to spend the rest of your life being someone else’s doormat.
The only way to stop being bullied is to buck up!
You must get tired of it and confront them head-on when they come for you. Speak out against them, to their faces, if need be. And when you say it, say it bluntly and mean it!
Then, if they respond with physical threats and violence, be ready to hit back and defend yourself.
Sometimes it takes a final showdown before your bullies will finally give you the respect you deserve. Do you remember the movie “Tombstone”?
A band of bullies had terrorized an entire boom town. They killed one Earp brother and wounded another. Afterwards, Wyatt Earp and his buddies made their final stand.
They hunted down each member of the Cowboys gang. And they all but eradicated them, which eventually led to their disbandment.
This is not to say you should hunt down your bullies, but you get the point.
6. Facts about Bullying:
Bullies thrive on your fear of retaliation and further harm.
Your fear of retaliation and suffering further harm is understandable. It is a natural human response to danger. So, in no way am I blaming you for it.
However, realize that your bullies thrive on your perfectly normal fear response. And they will exploit it every chance they get! And why not?
Your fear has thus far gotten them what they want. It has rewarded your bullies both psychologically and, more than likely, materially. So, why would they stop now or ever, for that matter?
Understand that rewards feel good! And if it feels good, humans want more and more of it! So, again, why would your bullies stop trying to get more of it?
Moreover, why would they stop doing the very things to you that have proved to be successful?
Human nature dictates that your bullies will always come back for more rewards! And they will return to the source of the rewards (you). Moreover, they will repeat the same methods that have enabled them to attain those rewards.
For example, a prospector finds a gold mine loaded with gold. There’s nothing to stop him from stealing it. Therefore, he’s not going to stop mining for it just because there’s more gold in it than he can carry.
No. He’s going to return to the mine later to get more gold. Consequently, if there’s no barrier to stop him, he will keep going back until there’s no more gold left in the mine.
Facts about Bullying:
if there’s more free gold in the mine, why not go back for it?
People are greedy like that. Bullies are no exception to this rule when it comes to power. You are the goldmine, and your personal power is the gold.
Each time they return, they will chip away at your self-esteem more and more to get that gold. Therefore, the trick here is to stop supplying “the gold.”
There’s a reason for boundaries.
Stop rewarding their behavior and set boundaries! Remember that mine owners usually had armed guards posted to prevent greedy prospectors from robbing them.
The guards are the boundaries for the mine. They protect the mine by keeping the robbers out.
Also, nations have boundaries to keep out foreign invaders. And people should have them as well to ward off others who would otherwise use and abuse them.
These Facts about Bullying will make you angry – at yourself!
In most cases, realizing these truths will make you angry. Then, you will grow so sick of being crapped on.
You’ll be angry with yourself for having allowed them to abuse you for so long. Also, you will reach the point where you stop caring how the bullies respond.
In other words, you will be willing to face the possibility of getting beaten within an inch of your life. However, you won’t care anymore. Damn the consequences!
Your attitude will be, “They may whip me, but I’ll go down swinging and get a few good licks in! I’ll leave a few marks on them, and they’ll know I’ve been there!”
You will be so furious that you’ll flatly refuse to live in fear any longer, come what may.
7. Facts about Bullying:
Bullies only understand strength and power. They do not understand reason, diplomacy, nor politeness.
You cannot handle bullies with kid gloves. In other words, there are no nice or polite ways to deal with them. You cannot be nice when setting boundaries.
Bullies only see niceties, pleasantries, and politeness as weaknesses to exploit and manipulate. They do not respect you for having those things.
Also, you can never reason with bullies. Bullies only perceive any form of diplomacy and reasoning to be signs of weakness.
Therefore, you must communicate with your bullies in the only language they understand. You must meet them exactly where they are. When you set your boundaries, do so firmly and bluntly. And mean it!
You cannot just set boundaries and expect your bullies to respect them. You must also enforce those boundaries with consequences because bullies will see this as a challenge. And you can best believe they will rise to that challenge.
In other words, they will violate your newly established boundaries. And they’ll do it to dare you and to prove that they can. Also, they may try to gaslight you.
That’s when you impose harsh consequences. And when you do, make sure that the consequences are severe enough to make them stop!
The consequences must be so severe that your bullies won’t even want to look in your direction again, much less mess with you.
Facts about Bullying:
You must speak from a position of power and strength.
To put it figuratively, unleash hellfire and put the fear of God in them! Think Hiroshima and Nagasaki after the Pearl Harbor attack. Japan never attacked us again afterwards.
We eventually won their respect, and they became one of our closest friends. And we continue to be friends with Japan today.
Here it is, in a nutshell. When you’re dealing with bullies, it’s either put up or shut up.
In Closing
The bullying you suffer may get worse before it gets better. Why? Because bullies always fight the hardest when they know they’re losing their power over you.
Therefore, don’t give up. Stick to your guns. And know that eventually, after you severely school your bullies enough times, they will eventually get the message. They will give up and go find another chump to jerk around.
This will be very difficult, if not terrifying. However, if you don’t want to waste years tiptoeing around bullies, you must realize these facts. These aren’t opinions, they’re facts.
These essential truths were the ones I had to realize before I could muster the courage to defend myself. Then, I could finally put a stop to the years-long nightmare I was living in.
THis post gave you all the facts about bullying so that you will be emboldened to stand up for yourself once and for all.
Related posts you’ll enjoy:
1. Important Facts About Bullying: 3 Truths You Must Learn
2. Opinions are Not Facts: 7 Reasons Those of Bullies Don’t Matter
4. Bullying and Gaslighting: 7 Ways Bullies Gaslight Victims