Popularity was not exactly part of my description in school; in fact, I was bullied. I think most people go through this at least once in life and maybe get stuck with all that anger and resentment, but one day changed my whole perspective of life.

 

I have always been an honor roll student, class pet, or whatever you may call it. On my graduation day, I was about to give a speech in front of the whole school because I was valedictorian. Suddenly, a group of bullies came to me and ripped my paper into little pieces. I was crushed, I spent a whole afternoon writing all that I wanted to say to my teachers and classmates. They left, and ten minutes later, I gave an incredible speech. They were amazed by what I did. How did I manage to do that?

 

My options were to give up and not give a speech at all, or make a fool of myself and been humiliated in front of everyone. But I didn’t. Maybe I let my emotions get the best of me for ten seconds, but only those ten. I just couldn’t give up because something was in my way; I had to keep fighting. I remembered I printed the logo on the back of the page to make it look like a formal document, which saved me. I took all the pieces and placed them together according to the image on the back. When I turned the paper around, everything was there. I acted as if nothing happened and dedicated it to those bullies, because they taught me three things that day that I will never forget.

 

I want to share what I’ve learned so it can be helpful to everyone else. The first one was to be grateful, even to those who have hurt you. All those experiences have made you the person you are now. The second one is perseverance, do not give up. All the good things in life have challenges; you just have to fight through them. Finally, the third one, everything has two sides. How you look at it defines the type of person you want to be. Problems don’t determine who you are unless you let them.

 

Image Credits: Freepik