Daily Prompt – Sidewalk

The prompt made me think of a quote I had seen on Facebook a few days back.

The quote meant something to me.Till 7th grade I was a shy kid who got bullied and the people I chose as friends turned out to be anything but that. I got first hand experience of being used by people to get what they need.

I learned to be strong and changed. I got some friends who gave me confidence to be me and stand up for myself . That confidence also taught me to not be affected by what others would say about me.Some of those friendships did not last the test of time but thankfully a few of them did.

Thinking back I realise that people walked all over me only because I let them. I always had the power to stop it.

It was good thing that I learned to be strong when I did because just a year after that I had to move to North India. Anyone who has joined as a new kid in the middle of the year will know how hard it can get. In my case the situation was worse because I understood very little of the language i.e Hindi. Having grown up in South India I was fluent in my language Malayalam and knew Tamil too but Hindi  was mostly alien to me. Kids can be really mean, especially, to the new kid that doesn’t understand the language. They cleverly devised games that would make me look like a fool.It was hard at first to let it go but it became quite easy with time.I had developed somewhat of a thick skin by then so I learned to live without letting people pull me down. It gradually stopped because they couldn’t get the intended reaction out of me.

All I have to say to all those having to deal with similar problems is that you have the power to make it stop. Just believe in yourself and make yourself strong. The world isn’t always nice but you can always choose how to react to it. Instead of letting it get you down, take it all in the stride and move on.

-S.M.

Daily Prompt – Sidewalk