BULLYING / PEER PRESSURE?

Inner strength is needed in both instances.

Gladioli - symbolizes Inner Strength

Peer pressure or bullying is highlighted and discussed at great lengths in our world with no outcomes, unless a large group of people stand up and say otherwise. Bullying often goes unnoticed because it affects a single person and a particular instance.

What is peer pressure and what exactly is bullying?

For me the definition of bullying - is when a person is weak or impaired, and being forced to do something against their instinct or will, or told to believe in something they don’t.

They may have different core values compared to the group doing the pressuring.

Peer pressure often comes from a group of people who agree on one course of action or behavior. Which they find acceptable, and therefore they insist that it is the norm or how everyone who crosses their path should without question.

Take, for instance, the following scenario is it peer pressure or is it bullying? 

How will you perceive or judge it?

To find the words to describe the emotional trauma I endured. The experience was similar to being held under water, by the people expecting me to die, while telling me I would die. When my only thought was to struggle and gulp fresh air to enable me to live. It felt like I had been held under water for too long, eventually realizing that ‘hope’ was something I had to give myself.

I thrashed around emotionally for a long time to find sense and balance, and the fresh air needed in my life. Then deciding to leave the medical system which was dooming me with biased and limited beliefs. I have not sought medical advice for nearly ten years now, and not claimed one product, or item, from our medical system or private health care system which has improved my health with relation to cancer.

I hope by now you will understand the level of commitment and how I celebrated - usually alone. Every little win and every little goal ticked off in my list of To Do’s. One of the hardest tasks proved to be removing an addictive steroid I had been prescribed, and combating the depression, pain and tears. It took eighteen months to remove the drug totally out of my life. When the porta-cath (a device in my chest used for injecting drugs) became blocked. Its removal was another milestone I celebrated, because it meant I was no longer forced to go anywhere near a hospital or doctor, or to endure the repeated words of ‘terminal’ and ‘incurable’.

My achievements on survival were celebrated each month I outlived their expectations. Then I celebrated the six month mark, and finally after six years, back to counting in years. It was finding the grit, on the days when my depression and emotions of grieving for my own expected death hit hardest. I knew I couldn’t seek emotional support from anyone… anywhere. If I went to an organisation for assistance, they would only refer me back to the medical system I was trying to escape from, and no one in my small trusted circle of friends had ever experienced, a life crisis similar to mine. This contributed to my isolation. I was going against the trend and tide of the people in the medical system.

How many people? I wonder have been exposed to a group of people in the medical system and have experienced the same treatment? Weak in body and mind, and rather than having the will power to fight these biased set of beliefs - given up?

I don’t object with being diagnosed and told where in your body you are sick. I question not being given a choice on what type of healing and knowledge you are given to restore your health without prescription drugs. Those tags on the scans and results which say to only be opened by a Doctor or medical professional? Why?

Bullying and peer pressure is saturated in every nook and cranny of our society and not just restricted to the playground and schools. Survival skills are needed in any environment, and any part of the world, it doesn’t always mean you need a weapon to be a threat to someone’s life. Bullying and peer pressure can also result in someone’s death.

Bullying and peer pressure comes in all sizes and forms.

Stay Strong

Karen