Why You Must Leave the Town You Were Bullied In

The girl with a suitcase

“A profit is honored everywhere except in his own hometown and among his relatives and his own family.” Mark 6:4

You want to live bully-free. You long for people to give you space and the chance to relax, be yourself, and to live a rewarding and meaningful life. You want opportunities to flow into your life and to live by your own standards. If you are or were bullied, you probably have the desire to reinvent yourself and attract love and respect.

Unfortunately, to do this, you will have to leave town if you were bullied in school. The reason is that if you don’t move, you will always be known as that “loser”, that “whore”, that “lowlife”, “crazy”, or whatever label people stuck you with in high school and no one will give you a chance no matter what. You will always be known for being the kid who was bullied by everyone- known for being “Everybody’s B!&$#” and you will more than likely continue to be targeted long after graduation, especially if you’re in a small town or rural area.

In a new geological area, however, you will be the new kid in town- that new kid who is mysterious, intriguing and beguiling! You will be the person everyone is anxious to meet because they feel that you’re full of hope and promise. In a new town, you can reinvent and redefine yourself. You can rewrite your own story and give a stellar first impression, then let it speak for itself. As a result, you will be successful at anything and attract endless opportunities for love, friendship, and advancement.

But back in the old town, you’re the kid who was desperate for attention and any success you have will only be viewed as another ploy to show off and impress others, which will cause you to become a target as an adult, whereas any failure will be looked at by others as an “I told you so” opportunity and confirmation to them that you really are a loser. In a new town, your value comes from what you put out. You are judged by the fruit you bare, whereas, in the old town, you are judged by who you were in school. You are judged solely by your reputation, which was ruined in school.

In a town in which you were bullied, nobody will be interested in how much you’ve grown and changed as a person. Others do not want to hear about any successes you’ve enjoyed or accomplishments you’ve made because it would only force them to consider that maybe you’re not such a bad person after all and quiet their own judgment of you. And because no one wants to be wrong about anything, they’ll only dig their heels in and double-down on their judgments and attitudes toward you.

Open door on long empty asphalt road towards sun.

It’s next to impossible to discover your true potential when others define you by who they perceive you to be. Because their perceptions of you will always be negative and they will do everything they can to keep you in your place. It’s a box you will never be able to get out of no matter what. However, when you move to a new environment, you are more likely to advance in anything. You’re more likely to get the breakthrough you’ve for so long awaited.

You could become an expert at something later in life and people would respect you for it anywhere else, but if you took that expertise to the town you were bullied in, very few would be impressed. Move to a new locale and show what you know, then you’ll have notoriety no matter what. You can always return a few years later after you’ve built your confidence and your social and creative portfolios, but don’t be surprised if you notice all the things that suck about the old town, one of which will be the reception you get from the people there. Another thing that will most likely disappoint you is that you will have had more life changes than any of the people who stayed and they would only bore the crap out of you.

So, get out of Dodge- fast! Go to a brand-new place and discover yourself! You want to get beyond the confines of your reputation and the only way to do that is to pack your bags and get out of the town you were bullied in! It’s the only way you’ll become what you want to be and move up in the world! Once you do, you’ll have a level of respect, influence and best of all- freedom, that you never would’ve achieved had you stayed in your hometown!

My Classmates’ Reactions to FVTV

From Victim to Victor By Cherie White

When I wrote and published “From Victim to Victor: A Survivor’s True Story of Her Experiences with School Bullying”, I received mixed reactions from my old classmates. Several were happy for me and are proud to see a fellow classmate reach success. For this, I am very grateful.

The majority of them (those who bullied, participated, or turned a blind eye), however, were and still are very angry and upset over the book. And the funny thing is, I can understand why they would be.

Think about this, if I had abused and mistreated someone on a daily basis, in my past and then years later, that person turned around and put me on blast by publishing a book about it, even with name changes, I guess I’d be a little steamed too (If I was an abuser)! And what abuser wouldn’t be?

Why are most of my old classmates outraged? Why? It’s because they feel a mountain of guilt and shame, and they’re afraid of somehow being exposed.

Naturally, I changed the names to preserve their privacy. Still, they’re very much afraid. Afraid of being identified, afraid of feeling any guilt or shame and afraid that people just might come around asking uncomfortable questions. I truly pity them because they must constantly maintain any lies that they told by telling new lies and they must now do it indefinitely! Can you imagine how exhausting that would be? It takes a lot of work to maintain a fake façade and rewrite the past.

And the only way it will stop is if they do some deep soul-searching and realize their guilt. I can tell you, they won’t! No way, Never! Not in this lifetime!

Because to admit what they did would mean admitting they were wrong, that they were the inferior ones, that they had the psychological issues. Understand that bullies and abusers will never admit they were ever wrong.

My old bullies from school will likely spend the rest of their natural lives covering up and being afraid, which means they will never truly be free.

Do I hate them. No.

Am I angry with them? Of course not.

The only thing I can feel for them is pity. That’s right! I can only feel sorry for them.

As John Bradshaw quoted,
“Guilt says I’ve done something wrong; Shame says there is something wrong with me. Guilt says I’ve made a mistake; Shame says, I am a mistake. Guilt says, what I did was not good; Shame says, I am no good.”

Is it any wonder my old classmates are so angry, bitter and defensive? Guilt, shame, and fear of exposure are major anger/temper triggers. When a person carries guilt and shame and constantly fears being found out, they tend to react with anger when criticized even mildly or called to account, even under a fictional name. The rest of the world may have no clue who they are, but they themselves know and that’s enough.

Peeling the masks off the bullies one layer at a time!

Can Bullies Get Intel from the Very Information which is Supposed to Help Victims?

Spy Snooping Spiders Spies Covert Intelligence 3d Illustration

There are many positives to bullying and suicide awareness, one of which is the ever so slow change in attitudes en masse about bullying, bullies and victims over the last twenty years. More and more people are coming to the realization that bullying is not “just a normal rite of passage” or “just a normal part of growing up” like previously thought a few decades ago. People are finally seeing it for the huge health hazard and the threat to human life that it truly is and perhaps, always has been.

Unlike thirty years ago, when I was in school, there is a vast wealth of knowledge, resources, and programs readily available to anyone who finds themselves on the receiving end of such harassment and a treasure trove of articles, books, and videos on what victims can do to bully-proof themselves. Also, today, we know that victims of bullying are not weak, too sensitive or to blame for the treatment they receive like previously thought decades ago. We have made great progress for victims of bullying and I cannot thank enough all those who contributed to this progress.
However, I want to stress something that I’m positive very few have considered:
Bullies also have access to this widely available information!

Although the data available is meant to help and empower victims, bullies can use this same data as counterintelligence and turn it against their targets. And they can do it by using the information to tailor any future attacks.
For instance, since bullying has been shown to cause suicide, there has been a drastic uptick in cases where bullies have told their victims to “kill themselves”. A few have even talked them into it.

Remember that the most talented and seasoned bullies are cowards at heart and always commit their evil undercover and with subtlety. Bullies are smart, stealth, meticulous, and worst of all- patient! They will not risk being caught. Also, anytime a victim attempts to assert their right not to be mistreated and to better their lives, bullies only escalate the harassment to punish the target and keep him/her silent and, in essence, enslaved.

I want you to understand that any power the victim regains for him/herself is power the bullies must lose! And when bullies see a threat to the power they have over a target, they will only tighten their grip and escalate the torment to keep the victim under their thumb.

Bullying is a slow death by psychological, emotional, and physical torture. It is systematic, subtle and sadly, escalation of it is sometimes so gradual that it often goes unnoticed by bystanders and authority until the victim dies by their own hand.
When a target of bullying commits suicide, the bullies have committed murder without laying a finger on the target. And because there’s no physical contact or weapon discharged by the bully or bullies at the time of the target’s death, the bully gets away with this murder.

Bullies murder their victims by gently and over time, persuading and influencing them to do it for them. Now, this is how they get away with murder! What better way is there to kill someone without ever touching them, without firing a single shot, and without ever seeing the inside of a prison?

Bullies know this instinctively! I say this with full conviction and being fully aware that I might be giving a few evil and unsavory souls a few ideas! Of this, I am truly afraid! The best I can do is to hope and pray to the goodness that no one with evil intentions comes across this blog post!

In closing, if you are a target of chronic and relentless bullying, I urge you to never give up on yourself. Never let a bully convince you that the world would be better off without you! It wouldn’t! Never let a bully convince you that you would be better off dead because chances are that you’re only being targeted because you are doing something right! You’re being bullying because you stand out from all the rest! You somehow outshine the bullies and they only mistreat you out of jealousy!

Know that you’re worth fighting for and you’re worth living for!

Believe it!