Sticks and Stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.
This was a saying I learnt as a child from the school playground, it was our reply after someone had said something unkind.
Indicating of course that the words would hurt LESS than the sticks and stones; this is something I ALWAYS disagreed with.
The person who wrote the proverb had obviously NOT been hurt by someone else’s words and obviously had no idea how MUCH and how LONG they could hurt for.
So, I spent a lot of years, trying to conform to other people’s opinions of HOW I should be and WHO I should be, so I wasn’t called names or talked about in a negative way.
But I’m stronger now and my views have changed, I now totally AGREE with this saying!
Here’s the thing, people can have whatever opinion of you they like to have, how you are dressed, how thin/fat you are, how intelligent you are.
But it is just that, THEIR opinion. THEIR opinion of good/bad, right/wrong.
If someone tells you that you are attractive and another person says you are ugly, who do you believe? And does it matter who you believe? You are exactly the same person whether someone thinks you’re ugly or someone thinks you’re attractive!
At the end of the day, it’s what YOU think about YOU that counts, right?
So, I choose to listen to my own words, trust my own opinion.
And not give my power away to anyone else