1) Ignoring: Often enough, the bully will attempt to bully you to draw out your emotions which could be anger, sadness, or retaliation. For the the person doing the bullying, he/she thrive in that type of situation as it's considered "fun". To take that away from the bully, simply ignore that individual. The bully will naturally get upset as you are denying him/her the enjoyment he/she is looking for and will look for alternative ways to get your reaction. This is the part where the bullying will increase before ultimately leveling off. The key here is you need to remain strong and continue ignoring the individual for this to work. In some cases, this method has proven to work and spare the victim further misery while in others, was not quite successful. This will vary from one case to another.
2) Empathy: This is a method advocated strongly by Dr. Melvin Koplow and Tamer Mahmoud. This is not easy to do, but another way to handle the situation is by confronting the person doing the bullying and talking some sense to him/her. Switch roles with the bully try to have the bully imagine how it would feel like to be on the opposite end of the table. Usually, the bully will some what understand the pain of being victimized and reform his/her ways. In other instances, the bully may not even care and continue with the bullying.
3) Open Up: There are times where the bully will manage to get the best of us. We may start to become emotional, upset, depressed, isolated, angry, or in some extreme cases, suicidal. The best thing to do in this situation is to talk to family members or 1-2 of your closest friends and open up with how you feel. The worst thing you can do is to bottle up all of your emotion. That is a recipe for disaster. Opening up, helps relieve you of all the negative energy/thoughts stored up within you and prevent you from thinking unnecessary thoughts. Life is too precious to waste dwelling on the bully. Build up you inner strength and surround yourself with an inner circle that will look out for you and be there for you.
4) Hobbies/Interests: Some of us have been or are in situations where we feel completely isolated by everyone, as was the case in Tamer. Take up hobbies such as video games, music, etc. Even join local sports teams and participate in neighborhood activities. You will be surprised at how many other individuals are in the same shoes as you. Network and build up friends based on mutual interests. By doing this, you prevent yourself from feeling lonely and see everything that the world has to offer you!
These are just some of the many ways you can cope with bullying. There is no one correct way and everyone's situation is different from one another. For more information on how you can deal with bullying or if you need a specific advice for a specific situation please visit our contact page to reach out to us!