Hi all! If you’re just coming into this month’s “Reader of the Month” series, please check out the four inspirational people who have been this month’s readers of the month thus far.
Our next reader of the month is Ula; because of her young age, she asked that I not disclose her last name. Ula is an incredibly inspirational teenager, who overcame bullying and now spends her time trying to inspire and motivate others. Be sure to check out her blog and Facebook page. Also, check out her article below!
Reader of the Month #5: Ula
Hi there! I am a 17-year-old teenager and I am on my path to finding out who I truly am, while unraveling my passion to help and inspire others. I grew up close to my family with little friends around me, especially at a young age. It was hard for me to make friends, as I was always somewhat different. I was and still am lucky to have a super supportive family guiding me on my path.
When I was 12, I was mocked and bullied in school by the guys in my class. We were a class of only 15 people of which one girl was my friend. As I said, I was different and didn’t fit in. I was made fun of because I was chubby, had glasses and braces. Obviously, this was a very depressing time in which I was lonely in school and felt worthless. I would come home every day and be miserable, which I kept from my family and anyone else. At one point, I had enough of it and told the teacher, but that just made it worse. Therefore, I took the great amount of free time I had, as I had no friends, and focused on my studies. Well, that resulted in being a nerd on top of fat and ugly. Not feeling good about myself completely lowered my self-esteem and confidence, plus I started believing all the things they said about me.
After a year of the bullying I realized that having no self worth is the worst thing that can happen to anyone. The realization hit me rather abruptly and I practically made a change overnight. I turned vegetarian and I still am today; it’s the best decision I’ve ever made. Before this, I loved meat and had it almost every day. However, I also loved animals and felt bad for them, so I always wanted to turn vegetarian, but it never lasted long. That decision showed me that I was capable of being disciplined and standing up for my own beliefs and opinions. After that, I began eating more healthily and lost a lot of weight, as well as getting rid of my braces. It boosted my confidence immensely and I haven’t been the old me since.
A year later, my mum read the book “You Can Heal Your Life” by Louise Hay, which brought me on a new path. I learnt that thoughts become things and the more positive you think, the more positive your life turns out. That’s how I started loving myself and I developed into being a positive, happy girl. I made more and more friends and I value my friendships the most after my family. Over the years, I learnt more and more about new age thinking and applied it to myself. I grew as a person and practically changed who I was.
I am still learning now and going to inspirational talks like Nick Vujicic’s.
Through my own development, I recognized people who were in similar situations that I was in at the age of 12. Some of my friends (of which I had more of) started asking me for advice about random things. They trusted me with their secrets, family and school problems. Therefore, I often found ways to deal or solve these problems and soon enough I felt like a young counselor.
I have guided my best friend in many parts of her life and helped her believe in herself again, as well as reach her full potential. When I met her, she was in a really bad place and I gave it my all to get her to smile and be happy every single day. She now loves who she is and is the one giving advice to her friends.
This advice giving resulted in me starting an inspirational blog, ‘The Journeys Of Life,’ on which I write about how to live life to the fullest. My goal is to make people smile, help them recognize their uniqueness and find their purpose in life. I am sure there is enough happiness and peace for every single person on this planet, and everyone is capable of love. Then, my best friend and I put up a Facebook page, “The Beauty Of Life,” with the same aims and now are the closest best friends ever. We help each other as well as anyone else on their Journey in Life by inspiring and motivating and I absolutely love this.
I am incredibly grateful to have the family that I have, as they support me with everything I do and they were the ones who brought me where I am today. If my mum hadn’t read that one book and told me about it, I wouldn’t have started my blog. Everything happens for a reason; we just need to find out what that reason is.
I soon have to decide what to study and where to go. I am not sure what to study yet; however, I am completely sure that I will forever show people the good and happiness in life, in whichever way that will be. And I am so looking forward to it!
Project Light to Life 
I admire you, Ula. Thank you for sharing your story! With your positive outlook, you have a very bright future ahead of you.
Keith, I totally agree :)!
It is sad that you had to make a physical change to fit in. I was interested in the motivations of the others to attack you. They found a weakness in your braces and your weight, for example. I think this goes on in the work place as well, people only want seemingly perfect people surrounding them and so they form cliques basically because they are insecure. This is a very important issue because our society is based on Capitalism, which seeks to produce at the maximum output and profit, if you don’t cut the mustard, they try to eliminate you. So, while you have changed the system remains intact.
I agree that bullies are typically very insecure people; it’s such a shame that they feel the need to pick on others to make themselves feel better
Beatiful!
Agreed 🙂
It is always great to hear stories of overcoming bullying, and it is especially inspiring to hear how this came about. Thank you for sharing.
Tony, I completely agree 🙂
Amazing! Well done Ula, a very large mountain conquered. And at such a young age! I may have to come visit you on your mountain top for your wisdom! 🙂
Haha, Mark, I totally agree with this! She’s so young and already so strong and intelligent 🙂
So nice to read about a teen surviving bullying with a positive attitude. Bravo Ula, and bravo for you telling us all about her.
Aw thanks Frances, but I completely agree!
You are beautiful in many ways. Love and Light always. Cheryl.
So true; she def is 🙂
I am indeed inspired. I went through a similar journey while growing up and surviving to a fully matured adults we take for granted that it is a given unaware that others need more help from those who have endured. I applaud your efforts.
Yes, I completely agree with this! Thank you for the thoughtful comment for Ula 🙂
Wow….thank you everyone! I didn’t expect a response like this — your comments made my day! And thanks Christine for sharing my article 🙂
You are so welcome Ula! Thanks for sharing your inspiring story 🙂
Great post. She’s a very inspiring young women. Good to see she has overcome bullying and is helping others.
Yes, I completely agree 🙂
Thanks for sharing her story. It is inspirational to all, no matter what your age. I also applaud her mom for reading and sharing such a life changing book. All the best, BTG
Yes, this is too true and you’re welcome 🙂
Beautiful…
I am happy for you Ula that you found confidence in yourself.
People don’t really know or care that how much damage they are doing.
Be proud of who you are.
By the way you are a beautiful girl.
Bless you.
And always remember don’t think what people think, they don’t do it often.
Thank you for following my blog. You have got an excellent website.
You’re welcome! And thank you 🙂
HI Ula,
I could relate to your plight so well. I was born with a rare shoulder deformity, which caused me to appear to have a very short neck. When I was growing up, the other kids caused me NoNeck. If it had stopped there it probably would have been fine. But at times it turned into physical violence, and I lived in fear for many years. The fear caused me to engage in self-destructive behaviors. In college, drug addiction and alcoholism took hold in my life. At 31 years old, I finally decided that I was done suffering, and I sought treatment. With one relapse, I am currently sober for over 12 years. What it took was to stop blaming everyone else for all of my problems, and to realize that it’s not about what is going on in the world or what is being done to me, but about how I’m reacting to the world, and the people in my life. My reaction is my choice.
Those boys in school may have initially teased you because you were chubby, but they continued to do so because you reacted. “Ignore them!” my parents used to say. Did they forget I was a kid?
Anyway, if those boys saw you today they would take one look at you and deeply regret what they said.
By the way, today I am a very successful nerd, making a lot of money, traveling to foreign countries, and I have a great relationship with my family and I have a ton of friends. Being a nerd is cool, and it will do you well.
So be happy, and let people think or say anything they want about you. They can’t hurt you if you don’t let them. The one person that can do serious damage to your self esteem is you. I’m always as nice as I can possibly be to people that seem not to like me. This usually catches them off guard and they eventually come around. People having irrational negative thoughts about someone is usually do to ignorance. Prove them wrong and be the wonderful person you are.
Larry Cohen
Hi Larry. Thank you so much for this nice, insightful comment for Ula. I completely agree with you that being nice to people who seem to dislike you at first can be really beneficial 🙂 It’s such a shame that kids/people think it’s okay to treat others in these ways, but hopefully one day things will change. And like you said, it’s all about your mindset! You seem to be very successful and happy now. And I agree; being a nerd IS cool! Lol
That is a big journey and I am very impressed by the outcome that you have created for yourself. Finding ourselves takes a bit of doing but so amazing when we get there. Well done Larry.