The Negative Impact of Bullying

Like I said in the previous post titled "Bullying and the message it sent" I was hearing and believing the messages "nobody likes you", "nobody wants you", "nobody cares", and" you will never amount to anything". Think about these messages and the impact they might have on a person's life. Especially a person who already has physical and confidence issues. Please understand, this was not a message I was receiving from my family. I had and still have a really good family.

Before I go on I would like for you to know I am a youth pastor, paramedic and a registered nurse. So I do have a little bit of education, probably just enough to make me dangerous.

God created each of us with some very basic innate needs and desires. In my studies, I believe that Maslow describes our needs best. Maslow Hierarchy consists of these needs in order:

*Physiological needs: things like air, water, food, things that sustain life.

*Safety needs: personal and physical safety.

*Love and Belonging: involving family and friends.

*Self Esteem: the need to be respected and have self-respect.

*Self Actualization: reaching your fullest potential.

If these needs are not met sufficiently enough, then it makes the subsequent needs more difficult to satisfy. For example: if you take away someone's ability to breath then they cannot feel safe, love and belonging won't matter, self esteem does not count and self actualization is impossible. That is just the short and sweet description. You must understand that the hierarchy of our needs truly is complex and intricate in nature. The basic point is that each need affects the others. Even to the point of making it impossible to achieve a need.

So imagine this if all needs are met sufficiently, then life is good. How does bullying affect this hierarchy of basic needs? Bullying attacks you emotionally and physically on a daily basis. The daily "Bully Message": "nobody likes you", "nobody wants you", "nobody cares", and" you will never amount to anything".

The negative life impact is this; you lose your drive to go on, you believe there is no meaning or purpose to life, and you lose your will to live. You become angry, hopeless, depressed and even suicidal. Maybe you will strive to find answers and maybe you will not. I have been there. I have been angry; I have felt hopeless, I have been depressed, I have been suicidal. Why? Bullying of course. Yes, I questioned the existence of a loving God because of it.

Bullying robs a person of their will to live. I can think of more teen suicides than I would like to remember over my 20+ years working as a paramedic. So many of these kids took their lives because of bullying. Bullying in the locker room, school halls, lunch room, city park, in their own homes, and even over social media. Young lives taken prematurely with pills, ropes, bullets, knives, alcohol.... The message I am certain everyone of these kids heard; Life isn't safe "nobody likes you", "nobody wants you", "nobody cares", and" you will never amount to anything". Sadly we live in a cruel world because of sin.

There is a place of safety and it is found in the LORD, His name is Jesus. If you are hurting because of bullying or any other reasons trust me when I say, there is HOPE. If you need to, message me and let me encourage and pray for you. My hearts desire is that my life will be the evidence of Christ's love and others will see and believe.

Proverbs 1:33 but whoever listens to me will live in safety and be at ease, without fear of harm."

May my life be the proof and evidence of Christ's love!