How to Find Your Courage: Stand Up Against Bullying

Hi everyone! Things have been crazy busy for me these past few weeks.

First I am back in school! My first year at the Jr high. Things are very different but I love my school and my friends. When you are a social butterfly like me, everyday is an event! I am also in full All Star Cheer mode now. This coming weekend is choreography and my teams first competition is fast approaching in Nashville on Novmeber 1st.I am up to level 4 tumbling skills and am very excited about things coming up in the next few weeks. With school back in swing, I wanted to take the time to talk to ya’ll about a topic that is close to my heart….Bullying.

When I was in Kindergarten, I went to a very small school. There was a boy in my class and he started pressuring me about the food I was eating. Not because I was eating bad food, but any food I ate. One day, he grabbed my tray and threw the entire thing away. He told me I was one of the pretty girls, the skinny girls and that it was his job to keep me that way! I was only allowed to eat what he told me, when he told me and how he told me. He threatened me and said if I didn’t do things his way or if I told, he would turn all my friends against me.

I didn’t understand what was happening, after all, I was only 5! I just knew I was scared, I was hungry all the time and I was really sad. I couldn’t imagine my friends wouldn’t like me if I didn’t stay skinny. I couldn’t understand why this boy, who I thought was my friend, thought no one else would like me if I gained any weight. I tried really hard to keep the secret, but my Mom could tell something was wrong. When she’d pick me up all I wanted to do was cry. I finally told her what was going on and as my Mom has always done, she took care of business.

After a meeting with the school, the student was punished and my friends were so upset to hear what he had been doing to me. Eveyrthing he threatened was the furthest from the truth. The only thing they were actually upset with me about, was that I thought they’d ever stop being my friends. And that is the thing about bullyings. They take our worst fears and biggest insecurities and use them to control us. But they can only do that if we give them that power! 

I never ever want anyone else to feel bad about themselves and be scared the way I was. That’s why I speak out on this so much! We as tweens, as humans as cheerleaders, have the power to stop this! We have the power to change peoples lives and make the world a better place.

Taylor Swift says it best, Haters are going to hate. No matter who you are, someone isn’t going to like you. The question becomes what are you going to do about that? Are you going to waste your time and life trying to constantly change yourself to fit into their “Ideal” you? Or are you going to spend your time living? Spend your time surrounding yourself with people who love you for who you really are? If I am always changing myself to fit someone else’s image of me, then how will I ever know who I really am? And what makes them so special in the first place they get to decide who I am??!

If you are being bullied, please listen to me! You are beautiful! You are smart! You are strong! The worst thing, you can ever do for yourself and this world, is stop being who you are to suit someone else! If you do, you are robbing the world of knowing you! You are robbing yourself of knowing you! You are risking changing your furture, to fit into someone else’s mold!

It takes all types to make up an All Star Cheer squad, the same way it takes all types to keep this world going! Find your confidence! Find your passion! Help me change this world for the better, one person at a time!!

This month, Talk to someone you normally wouldn’t. Go out of your way to say hi and smile at someone who looks lonely are maybe doesn’t have alot of friends. Be kind, be loving, be generious.

BE YOU! ALWAYS!

Love, hugs and backhandsprings

Eden Lucie