Bullying is a strange thing you know…. I’ve never met anyone who has the balls to say “yeah I get a kick out of upsetting people and making people miserable” however it’s just still so rife.

Lucy Isabella, 20 , Stoke-On-Trent

School wasn’t the greatest time for me, I threw myself into my education, extra curriculum activities and pleasing the teaching staff at the school, but by year 8/ 14years old you start to kind of realise why you’re such a loner. I started realising that I wasn’t cool enough… I didn’t hang out with a group of people, I didn’t wear cool clothes, I liked things that were too quirky, I tried too hard to be the best, I was making myself an easy target. When people were going out on a weekend I was doing homework and extra work and sports. The nicknaming, the jokes, the subject of gossip. It hurts to know that you can’t please people or fit in, and with all those typical teenager hormones and things being said, it’s hard to pretend it doesn’t hurt. As soon as I turned 16 I got a job and spent every penny on clothes and trying to look like an “it” girl and trust me it was bloody exhausting. When you have that much to live up to and try to make it work and make people think that you’re cool and your life is so together and planned and you have everything you will ever need is stupid.

So, after school I started embracing this quirkiness I had. I care a lot less about what people think now, I dye my hair whatever colour I want. I wear the clothes that I want to wear. Today I still have a lot to live up to, I try my best to make things work, I don’t care about looking cool, my life is certainly not together and nothing has turned out the way I planned but I tell you what I love my life.

I don’t listen to what people think of me anymore and I’ve learnt that if you love yourself and love your life and stay so positive nothing can bring you down. Nothing can dampen your spirits and nothing can stop you. At the end of the day I always like to ask myself “if everyone I met today was blind, would they still think I was beautiful?” having a beautiful heart is always the most amazing thing you could ever have, and you can’t buy that from a shop or wear that for one season. You build it and treasure it forever.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who ever bullied me, made my life difficult or gave me bad memories. Thank you because you’ve taught me the most important life lessons and you’ve helped sculpt the amazing person I am developing into today.