Diary of a Gen Z Student: I was bullied in school but I realise I don't have to live by that script

"I’m not embarrassed about the fact that I was bullied anymore. Because it was never really about me."

Jane Cowan: "At first, I couldn’t tell anyone that I was being bullied. Because I couldn’t repeat the things that were being said." Picture: Moya Nolan.

It’s a strange experience to be bullied. It’s like all of a sudden, you’re letting someone write the script by which you’re going to exist. It can feel so disempowering to find yourself in that place. And it really does feel like that: finding yourself in this situation. 

You don’t know what you did to get there. All you know is that you are very much there. I remember what it was like. Feeling sick every time I got a text on Snapchat. Crying before walking into school. Waiting to hear what would be said to me in class that day, or what was being said about me during lunch.