The following tips might be particularly helpful if you’re dealing with verbal bullying on your own.
When possible, ignore the bully. Ignoring can be helpful, particularly for one-time cases. Bullies are looking for a reaction from you and often lose interest if they aren’t given the satisfaction of making you upset.
Suggestions for ignoring the bully:
Walk away when the bully approaches you. Try and imagine that you’re walking away from a friend. This can be a way of making sure your body language (which you’re usually unaware of) doesn’t give away a sense of fear;
Concentrate on something else. Try thinking about what you’ll do next weekend, counting to 100, or planning your homework;
Have a saying or a statement that you can repeat in your head when the bully approaches you to block out a sense of fear.
Build a wall around you. It might be helpful to build an invisible wall around you by visualizing it in your mind. Any verbal abuse then just bounces off the wall.
Use visualization. Bullies can be pretty scary. Picturing that person looking silly might help to make them less problematic for you. For example, picture the bully’s head shrinking, or picture the bully in his or her underwear.
Stay positive. It can be hard to remember all your good points when someone is doing their best to be negative. Try to think of all the things you do well, and remember that you are a valuable person. Thinking of how bad the bully must be feeling can also help you stay positive.
Surround yourself with people who care about you. Surrounding yourself with positive people who know and like you for YOU can boost your confidence. This will help you let bullying comments more easily roll off your back. It’s important that you connect with people who genuinely care for you and recognize all of your great qualities.
Hang around other people. You might be safer if you stay in groups. If you are alone, try to identify people who can offer you safety.
Be confident. Bullies usually pick on people that they think are weaker than they are, so it might help if you stand up to them.
Suggestions on how to stand up to a bully:
Telling him or her to leave you alone may get a bully off your back;
Ever heard of the phrase “kill them with kindness”? Being nice to a bully may throw him or her off;
Using humor can also throw a bully off track;
Use positive self-talk. Try saying to yourself something like I know I am better than that. I’m not like that. I don’t have to pick on other people to know that I am good;
Remember that your friends accept you for who you are.
Keep out of a bully’s way. It might be possible for you to avoid the bully. This can mean getting to school in a different way, or avoiding the places that you know he or she hangs out. By avoiding a bully, you’re not giving in, but looking after yourself and making sure you are happier and more comfortable.
