If you were bullied at school, did it...

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I'm still negatively affected today. In my opinion the only thing bullying did was made me jaded, angry and bitterand I missed out on so many opportunities because I didn't trust anyone. It further doesn't help that I look like a bouncer now so few REALLY believe my tales of having 20 people (boys and girls) taking turns attacking you.

There needs to be a middle option.

Bullying did me no good, but it also didn't devastate me.

I once posted a thread here asking if bullying people toughens them up just to see if anyone else got tough and if it worked with them or not. I have heard it does toughen people up and I think it's true for some people like me.

I wasn't bullied, I was ignored and avoided and that hurt but I adapted to this and no longer think about it.

A group of girls tried to bully me, I found the experience quiet forgettable. It was unpleasant when it was actually happening. I suppose they got bored in the end I don't think I reacted the way they wanted me to.

It wasn't the men that I had a problem with, it was always the girls that would come after me.. If any guys would try to beat the living daylights out of me, all I had to do was talk to my friends in low places.

I don't think it helped me any, all it did was make me feel like crap about myself and contribute to all my mental problems, I still get to deal with on a daily basis. I also find it hard to trust anyone too worried of what they might do when they find a weakness I have, like how they could use it against me. Most of the time I find it very hard to believe it when people don't think badly of me, like I usually don't know how to react to compliments.

For me, it made me stronger in some ways....I show less emotion and feel I can handle any task thrown at me....If I get a large truckload of freight and feel overwhelmed, I take the bull by the horns and get the job done....it could be worse, I could be sitting in high school getting bullied. The bad things include random events that trigger flashbacks as well as nightmares about my old bullies coming into my workplace and harassing me......luckily, if that happened, my boss and coworkers would chase them out. I also have moments of anger and bitterness and come off as a grump towards teenagers. The bitterness comes from having a part of what should have been the easiest part of my life, the hardest and most difficult instead. On top of the bullying, there was the unstable home life due to my father being unable to work and pay the mortgage due to an injury. Step moms job was not enough to pay the bills, so I had to work during my school years as a teen to keep a roof over my head and food on the table. I still passed and went on to college, but sacrificed my full academic potential. I gained independence and life skills. I had no choice. My school years as a teen were about keeping a roof over my head and persevering through the bullying. College was ok. My parents did not pay any tuition or help me during that time. I got scholarships and a grant that enabled me to go. I graduated and paid off what debt I had from college on my own. My parents did not know about the bullying in high school. I did not tell them since I felt they had bigger things to worry about. I survived all of that and have a decent job although I still do have the bitterness anger, nightmares, and flashbacks.

I think it really negatively impacted my mental health and I think bullying is the reason why I have low implicit self-esteem. I really want to be a super happy and cheerful person with no mental health issues whatsoever. Thanks to the bullies, I need to pay money to see a shink to ensure I am the kind of person I was as a kid. The trauma and the self-talk is very, very difficult to get rid of.

Closest option - bullying broke/devastated me, made me I wouldn't be that melodramatic if I were to describe it but it negatively impacted my self esteem, my mental health and consequently my life as a whole. It certainly did not make me stronger.

Although the bully problem for me was bad. I learned how to not get mad but get even. After all, I was all brains and no brawn so getting into someones face was not an option for me. So most of my getting back at my bullies at school where mostly sneak attacks. One of my favorite ones was I would get a hall pass in the middle of class while nobody was in the halls. then using a master key. I would go into my enemy's locker bull out the thermos from his lunch box and pour a small cup of my urine into it. And when lunch time came around. There was nothing more satisfying then watching your worst enemy drinking your own piss. Of course, I wanted to put as much in there as I could. I still had to be careful not to put too much in there otherwise he might taste it and it would've given it away. So if you ask me? Yes. bullying suck and it would've been nice to have friends in school but at lease I has a means of recourse to boost my morale.

I can't choose. "Break" and "devastate" are too extreme and "make me stronger" feels to me like it's giving too much credit to the bullies. They didn't make me stronger. They were trying to boost their own low self-esteem by putting me down and if I am stronger because of it, it's all due to my decision not to keep thinking about it and letting it ruin my life.

Though, that said, the bullying did have an effect that lasted for years, making me shyer and more wary around people and always feeling that people who seemed to like me were just tolerating me and being kind. It certainly doesn't help someone who has an inborn trouble deciphering social cues be any less anxious trying to fit in with people -- conversations, etc. -- even now.