It seems like every day, someone I know on here leaves dA because they feel worthless. Hated. Ugly. Not good enough. Stupid. Untalented. Bullied.

and frankly, I'm SICK of it.

I'm not mad at the people who are leaving--oh no, I love them dearly and hate to see them go.
It's WHY they are leaving that makes me mad.

As someone who suffers from depression, anxiety, and bullying in the past, I am speaking from experience here when I say this:

You are NOT alone. As hopeless and lonely as you may feel, I can promise you that you're not as god-awful as you are making yourself believe.

Here is my story (skip if you want)

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I had always been a little chubby, wore glasses, braces, and hand-me-down clothes. I look much different now, but when I was in middle school, girls behind me called me hideous, fat, and gross. Whenever I walked on the bus, people would make comments and snicker. One girl said I looked like trash and must've bought all my clothes from Goodwill, and guys in the back of the bus taunted me for going out with someone whom they called a "nasty gay faggot".

In my first year of high school, I was cyberbullied to the extreme by my ex-best friend. I would wake up to texts to "cunt (:" and other awful things. She would tag me in Facebook statues calling me an ugly wench and they would get 10+ likes. On my 15th birthday, she sent me a death threat saying "Happy birthday slut, I hope you die today. And if you don't, I may just have to kill your ugly ass myself. (: "

This was BEFORE there were cyberbullying laws. I had printed out every single death threat and hate comment she had ever said and took it to the principal. and guess what? The school system didn't do SHIT. They said "Aw, that's too bad." and told me to suck it up. Nowadays, she would have gone to jail for that. Even worse, we had the same friend group, and she had somehow managed to convince them, through lies, that *I* was the bad person, not her. So I had to deal with this ALL. BY. MYSELF. Seems pretty sucky, right?

Yeah it was. But you know what? I realized that she was the horrible monster, not me. I started ignoring her, and guess what? She stopped. The moment she realized I didn't care, it wasn't worth the effort to bully me anymore. All she wanted was a reaction from me, and she wasn't getting one.

All those things that people had said to me over the years? THEY AIN'T WORTH SHIT. I knew in my heart that I had purpose in my life. Yeah, maybe I dressed a little old fashioned. And yeah, maybe I couldn't afford contacts or weigh 85 lbs naturally at the time. But that didn't cause me to drop everything and give up because someone else didn't approve of it. I overcame bullying all by myself by realizing this, and everyone was shocked, myself included.

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Moral of the story: You don't HAVE to listen to negativity. It doesn't matter. Seriously. Who cares if girls or guys who YOU'D NEVER BE FRIENDS WITH TO BEGIN WITH don't like you. There is always going to be someone who doesn't like you. That's life. And the moment you accept that, you are free.

There is, however, another issue: what if the enemy is YOURSELF?
You're not being bullied by others, but rather your own mind is doing the damage?
In that case, it is the same idea.
Depression, low self-esteem, anxiety...they are serious problems.
"It's all in your head", some people say.
And that's true--it is all in your head! So it's hard to overcome because you have no control over it. It's harder to ignore than bullying.
When you feel worthless, unloved, stupid, and as though your life has no purpose,
take a minute and think.
Is that really true?
You might feel alone--like you have nobody to talk to. Nobody will understand the pain you're going through.
But I promise that you are not alone! If you don't have anyone in real life who you can talk to, I'm sure anyone on here would be MORE than willing to listen to you.
It's not healthy to hold it all in. Trust me, I know.

If there is ANYONE who ever needs to talk, I for one will gladly listen to you and help you.
Just note me if you would like to talk and I will give you my Skype.
I'm fairly busy, but if you are seriously in need of someone to listen to you, I will be there for sure. I just want to make sure that nobody feels like they have nowhere to turn.

Remember, you're awesome. Don't let anybody make you think otherwise. c;

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