I remember getting back from swimming and I had just sat down on my bed, I had gotten an IPod a few months before and I started to get messages. A spam of them, getting sent over and over again. Was I shocked? Well, not really, since this generation is way more involved with technology and I was in my first year of middle school. I was reading rude things and people were frustrated at me, I had absolutely no idea what was going on. This “problem” occurred for almost 2 months and it has changed me in a certain way, I was getting cyberbullied believe it or not, it may seem like a weird thing to happen since I am the pretty quiet type and I seem to not get in a ton of drama, but it happened and I lost friends that I trusted for years.

“Why are you acting this way towards people? You’re a liar and no one likes you!”

“No, I am not, I have no idea what you’re talking about. I just got home and didn’t even bother to text any of you while I was at the pool.”

“Sure, you totally didn’t do this because you always want the attention, no one likes you anymore.”

Shocking right? It was really harsh and hard to read as well, I could feel my heart pounding and my throat starting to burn because of the tears that were developing. I wanted to scream, I wanted to run away from everything and everyone, I eventually did mentally breakdown . Every single time I reread every little message, it broke my heart. These people were my family, at least that’s what I thought for a long time.

“I hope you do this, I’m going to get you suspended, I hope you enjoy life knowing you did this.” they bashed me over and over again.

“I didn’t do this! I have apologized for nothing, and all I get in return is to be called names and get threatened by people I care about deeply!”

This went on for 2 months, the name calling, the tears, the breakdowns, everything. This was probably one of the most scary and exhausting experience of my life. My mind felt like it just exploded into a million pieces, I felt no emotion after all of this happened, I’ve never felt something so heartbreaking and it’s even harder to put into words. Due to these issues going on, I started to develop mental problems that still continue to swirl around my mind everyday. I am much better than I was before, but my past has made me a stronger person than ever before and sharing my story just gives me this hope for people that have gone through the same thing.

I would never bash them or wish bad things upon them for doing this to me, it is sad, but you learn how to deal with these types of people, even if it can break your heart for a couple of years, or even cause you to develop mental issues. I shouldn’t have let what they said get to me, I knew they weren’t true, but I continued to believe it just because they were at a “higher level” or they were more “popular” than me. Someone’s popularity should not define you at all and what they do, doesn’t mean you have to follow. I didn’t even bother to tell friends or even my parents, it seems very absurd, but I was afraid of telling people how hurt I was or that I would seem dramatic, so I really kept it to myself and it ruined my thoughts.

You may ask how I solved this situation, and really I eventually told my mom and all of the crazy madness ended. I got some relief for a short period of time, but it didn’t stop at school considering the fact that I saw them everyday and it still breaks my heart to this day. There are a ton of things I’ve learned from this memory and it’s to not let people take you for granted, even if they are your best friend, you know you deserve better than that and you shouldn’t let people rule you for the rest of your life. That is not a life to me. Even though I didn’t do anything bad in this situation, always be kind to people, even if you don’t personally know them. I have become more mature than ever now and I’ve learned from my past mistakes, and your mistakes don’t define me as a person. Big moments like these can really change your life forever, it gets better eventually.