Turning pain into power: Overcoming the scars of bullying
My first blog was just a snippet and overview of my personal mental health journey. Over the next few blogs I will be going into more detail about some of the topics and give a little more information.
So, let's start with bullying because unfortunately it is massive, happens a lot more than it should and affects us in more ways than we realise. Don't suffer in silence, speak up and let's put the bullies far behind us.
How bullying affects your mental health
Bullying affects your mental and physical health in many ways and for a long period of time if it's left and not dealt with properly. While physical scars may fade, the emotional and psychological toll can linger for years, if not a lifetime. You can become insecure, anxious, angry, sad, hurt, isolated and feel on the edge. It's exhausting, imagine your mind going a hundred miles an hour at all times, even at night, affecting your sleep and every aspect of your life. You start to think everyone hates you. You believe what the bullies say. Because they've got to be right haven't they?
How EMDR helped me
How I used EMDR to move on from my bullies. I went to see someone who’s main therapy was EMDR, I walked in, sat down and once he had explained everything, it all began. I mapped it all out on a piece of paper. One thing after another I remember thinking this is way too much I'll never be able to get rid of years worth of trauma and damage. But, one by one we worked through them. EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing and you will hear me talk about it a lot! Using EMDR replicates the eye movement we all do in our REM sleep to reprocess old traumatic memories that are stuck and reduce the emotional feeling we get. This allows for new healing and resolutions. Sounds a little bit like magic but it works! I left that session with a real mix of emotions. A week went by, I returned back to the same therapist and we revisited the things we'd worked on the week before and I couldn’t believe it, I felt nothing. Continuing to work through all of my map of being bullied. Once we had completed every last one, I finally felt free. I could make new friends, I could go to places that used to cause panic attacks and most of all, I could start living.
I think the biggest eye opener for me was the best way to seek ‘revenge’ was to simply out do them and take back control of my life. Let me help you do the same.