Craig Johnson's Karate USA

Our schools have rules against bullying, and punishment for those who break those rules, but it still happens. Our teachers and parents will give the best advice to us on what do to if we are ever teased or picked on, but how we handle it deep inside is our responsibility.

If someone is picking on us and sees that we are bothered by it,  they will keep it up.

If we ignore them, maybe they with leave us alone and maybe they won’t.

If we tell them to stop, they may listen to us, but maybe they won’t.

If we are fed up and tell an adult, like a parent or teacher, they may

 get the message and go away, and maybe they won’t.

If we stand up and confront them, there is a good chance they will

 stop, but sometimes they won’t.

Every situation is different, and so is its solution. However, one thing

 always stays the same…

The bully wins when we let him get ‘under our skin’.

So what is the answer?

Self Defense against a Bully

The best defense against anyone who disrespects us is

Mental Self Defense. What is that? Mental self defense is when we refuse to disrespect ourselves. We do not allow ourselves to be a victim.

 We know we are good people, and nobody can hurt us unless we

 allow them to do so.

We have friends and family who love us because we love ourselves and we use our minds to respond rather than react.

 Instead of becoming angry or sad and letting the bully win, we use our smarts to understand that they are just trying to control us and make us feel bad. The moment we stop allowing them to do that is the moment we are in control of our own lives and not someone else.

 Final Note

Bullying, unfortunately, is a part of life. It has been around as long as there have been people. Remember David and Goliath? Bullies come in all shapes and sizes. Even though it is comforting to dislike or even hate a bully, we need to remember that he probably learned that behavior from someone else, and he is just taking it out on us. Since we wind up feeling awful, what do we often do? Find someone weaker and pick on them, and so on, and so on.

So what can we do? Remember that anyone can be a bully, even us. The moment we stop respecting others and seeing them as people just like us, and start treating them as less deserving of respect, then we are a bully too.