How To Protect Yourself From Bullies
Bullying is dangerous. Whether it happens in school, job, or in any other place, it can impact your physical as well as mental health in the long run. In some cases, it might have a negative impact on your performance at school/job, the way you socialize with other people, and above all, your self-esteem.
The bad news is, bullying is a part of growing up, and just about any person has gone through it at some point in their lives. So for the sake of your own health, it is crucial to know how to protect yourself from bullies in many different ways. Of course, the initial step is to use verbal tactics to talk your way out or run away. But in some cases, things might get out of control and become physical.
In this article, we are going to bring you closer to all the verbal and physical tactics you can use to protect yourself from bullying. And, you will also learn how to PREVENT this from happening to you. Yes, there is also a solution for that.
Without further ado, let’s define bullying in a brief way before we can move on to what you can do to protect yourself.
What is bullying
Bullying is a type of aggressive behavior where an individual or group of individuals are trying to intimidate the other person or a group of people. Depending on the circumstances, bullying can be verbal. In most cases, bullies would insult somebody by making fun of their looks, threatening, and harassing them. Their main objective here is to play with your emotions, make you angry, or put you in a state of fear.
In some other examples, bullying might be physical and this usually happens in schools. A bully or a group of bullies would harass a person by physically attacking them with punches, kicks, and other types of strikes. In most cases, they won’t be using full force. But the impact would be big enough to cause minor physical injuries such as bruises. And of course, these situations are usually traumatic and can have a big impact on your mental health.
Bullying can lead to serious mental and physical injuries and is not something a person should put up with it or ignore. A person exposed to bullying might have a hard time dealing with general tasks at school, socializing, and in the long run, might become anxious and depressed.
Now, let’s move on to the next segment where we will discuss what you can do to protect yourself from this type of behavior. We will also provide you with some examples (some of which are from our personal experiences).
Verbal tactics to protect from bullies
Bullying usually begins with verbal harassment before it becomes physical. So it is crucial to stop them in their intentions straight away using the following verbal tactics.
Maintain a poker face and ignore the bully
When a bully approaches you, give your best to stay calm and completely ignore their nonsense. You already know why did they approach you and what are their intentions. They will throw a barrage of insults in your face and the only thing they are waiting for is the sign of weakness. This will only add fuel to the fire.
Thus, completely ignoring their behavior and not giving them a single word or reaction to hold on to is the best way to keep them away. Maintain normal body language, and a poker face, and act as if you don’t understand what they are saying, as if they are speaking a different language. Without anything to “work with”, they will quickly move away and find another victim.
Also, school bullies are well-known. If you see one coming your way, give your best to act busy and start moving out of their way. In the best-case scenario, you will find a group of friends or at least start moving toward a group of people. Just don’t be on their path at all. These people are only looking to cause trouble and ignoring them and staying away from their destructive path is the best way to stay safe.
Stand your ground and try to talk your way out of the situation
Bullies are not rational people by any means, but you can use this to your advantage. One of the best ways to protect yourself from bullying is to use a firm voice and be confident. Look them straight in the eyes, and use a calm voice and rational language to talk your way out.
Stand your ground and let them know that their insults do not bother you at all and that their aggressive behavior is not making you feel afraid. Do not drop your head down or make a step backward for a second.
Stand straight, give them a confident look, and ask them to leave you alone. They will probably continue and try to break you, but don’t give up at all costs. As long as they are verbally harassing you, stand your ground and keep saying them to leave you alone or stop talking to you.
Once they see you are “tough”, they will probably move away in search of another “weaker” victim. In most cases, bullies want instant “I’m afraid” reactions, they don’t have time, and probably intellectual abilities to talk back and forth with you.
Be loud, confident and tell them to stop
Not all people react the same to bullying, nor the “ignore” tactic works all the time. Or in other words, there are cases where bullies simply won’t leave you alone for their own reasons, and when things will reach the breaking point. The breaking point is where your mind enters a fight or flight mode.
The best thing you can do in this scenario is to face them directly, look them straight in the eyes (eye contact is very important), and loudly tell them to stop harassing you. If they continue to bother you, loudly repeat “leave me alone” and start walking away from them. Being loud but not too aggressive has many benefits.
First, it has a surprising effect as most bullies do not expect their target to verbally fight back or act aggressively at all. And second, being loud will notify people around that something bad is going on.
Depending on the situation and place you are in, there might be some teachers around or grown people who will notice that you are in trouble and acting desperate. Grown people and adults will recognize bullying at first glance because, as you would assume, we have all been through it, or witnessed people being bullied. Thus, being loud, especially with people around you is a very smart tactic.
Keep your cool and hide your emotions
We know this is a hard one, but give your best to hide all of the emotions and maintain your composure. The main reason bullies act as they do is that they want to make you emotional, scared, and afraid of their actions.
Once they see the fear in your eyes, voice, or body language, the intensity of their actions will just elevate to another level. It’s what they are looking for and there is no way back.
Even if you get upset and emotional, try to stay calm, speak fluently, and politely ask them to leave you alone and that you do not want any trouble.
Agree with everything they have to say
Although this might seem funny, agreeing with every single insult thrown in your face is actually a very effective tactic. Even when they completely cross the line, be sure to agree with everything they said. This “weird behavior” will completely destroy their aggressive momentum, and maybe even make them laugh because you are actually accepting their nonsense, and even feel proud about it.
Again, bullies will look for weak spots in your personality that will trigger the insecurity inside you. They want to make you mad or scared, not proud for being a nerd or having a big nose. For example, if they say you are an ugly person, tell them that you probably are, but that you feel good about the way you look. If they say you are a nerd, acknowledge you are a person with good grades who does not do much aside from reading books at home.
Respond with a joke to their insulting comments
Not all people have a good sense of humor, notably in stressful situations. But if you are among them, you may put your instincts to work to deflect the bullies. However, be sure not to use any jokes that will insult the bullies. In that case, they will have a “legitimate”
reason to attack you verbally and maybe even physically.
Instead, use their insult as a reference to make a joke about it, and laugh it off. Again, this will stop the momentum for a brief moment, and they will probably walk by without bothering you.
For example, if they call you a nerd, say something like: “I’m not. However, I don’t have enough time to deal with you guys as I’m in a hurry to finish my homework and give my best to pass the test tomorrow”. The point is to accept their insult and acknowledge it in an ironic way.
Talk with your parents or authority figures about your experience with bullying
Although some of the tactics explained work most of the time and the bullies will leave you alone, do not take this for granted. They will come back tomorrow and the day after tomorrow. It is not your responsibility to stop their behavior so be sure to talk to authority figures or your parents about repeated bullying. You might get away with it, but there are people who don’t know how to defend themselves, and as a result, will suffer serious verbal and physical violence.
For example, school authorities will immediately react and do everything in their power to find who these individuals are, and do their best to stop them from bullying more people. In the worst-case scenario, they will kick them all out of the school as this type of behavior is unacceptable, and it will never be. Or if you experience verbal harassment at work, they might even lose a job.
Either way, talking with the authorities does not make you a coward. Again, just think about all of those people who didn’t know how to defend against bullying, and be emphatic about what they are going through.
Self-defense Tactics To Protect From Bullies
Making a decision to fight back should always be the last option. In some scenarios, you won’t be able to talk your way out, nor you would have time or space to run away and reach out to safety. The only option left would be to fight back.
Surely, you won’t crumble down into a turtle position and let someone hurt you with punches, kicks, and other strikes. No, in this scenario, you are going to give them a piece of their own medicine.
If there are multiple attackers, be sure to target the main bully, the loudest one. This is crucial because blasting the leader of the group and hurting them would instantly destroy the confidence of other members of the group. It’s the way human nature works. You will catch them by surprise, and use this to run away. Target vital areas such as the head, rib cage, or liver.
But remember, you should engage in physical violence only if your life is in danger. Never be the first one to start a fight.
Ways to prevent bullying
There are also ways you can prevent being a target of bullies. Let’s be honest, have you ever seen someone bullying a 250lbs bodybuilder? A person in school who has been known as a skilled kickboxer or wrestler? Of course not, bullies are not the smartest people, nor they are that dumb.
So in order to prevent bullying, consider engaging in some type of martial arts training.
Martial arts or any form of self-defense training is probably the most effective way you can prevent bullying. Being trained in BJJ, wrestling, kickboxing or Boxing will give you a huge amount of confidence when it comes to bullies.
In school, college, or a job, for example, bullies will know who you are and they probably won’t mess around too much with you. And even if they don’t know who you are, if they cross the line, they are about to find out in a very painful way.
Apart from fighting skills, martial arts training has many other benefits. It boosts your self-esteem, improves physical and mental health, and of course, enables you to protect yourself in an effective way.
Let’s explore some of the most effective combat systems you can train in to learn how to protect yourself in real-life.
Best Martial Arts For Self-Defense
Following is a short list of the best and most effective grappling and striking martial arts when it comes to self-defense. All of these combat systems teach battle-proven techniques and will teach you how to protect yourself in various scenarios, including against bullying.
Boxing
Boxing is, perhaps, the most popular combat sport and a very effective fighting system. It is great for people who want to learn self-defense as it is a simple system, and everyone can learn it regardless of their talent or fitness level. The main goal is to learn how to mix punches with upper-body movements and footwork.
Though simple, boxing as a concept is very effective. The classes are designed to help you develop good fighting instincts, and timing, stay calm in a stressful situation, and apply practical techniques to protect yourself. And above all, most street fights begin with one person throwing a punch as this is the most effective way to hit and hurt an opponent standing in front of you. Boxing is the best when it comes to learning how to defend against this type of attack.
Kickboxing/Muay Thai
Kickboxing is another popular martial art among people looking to improve their self-defense skills. It is also a very simple and practical system where the main objective is to learn how to mix punches and kicks. Though it sounds complex, most kickboxing styles focus on direct and simple techniques. It all revolves around five different punches, kicks, movements, and learning how to mix it all together.
Like in boxing, the emphasis is on the practical application of skills against a fully-resisting opponent.
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ)
BJJ is the most popular grappling-based martial art. Apart from being among the most effective systems for real fighting, BJJ is training is also very safe which makes it very popular in modern times. The system entirely focuses on standup grappling and ground fighting, without any striking at all.
On the feet, students learn how to secure a strong grip and execute various types of takedowns, throws, and trips to advance to the ground. Once there, they learn how to maneuver into a dominant position from which they can finish the opponent with chokes and joint locks.
