Lauren Brocious, a senior at Millbrook High School in Virginia suffered from the torment of bullies ever since she was in the eighth grade. "I just felt like I couldn't go to school and I couldn't talk to people because I was so worried about what people were saying about me," she
told WHAG. The 17-year-old finally had enough and decided to fight back by speaking out about it.
So Lauren created a video that sheds light on the impact of bullying but also shows how people like her can take power over the hurtful words of others. In the video, Lauren drew a series of cruel words over her face such as "ugly," "fat," and "loser."
"We start defining ourselves by other people's words instead of our own," she said in the video. "Eventually those words tear us down until we can't take it anymore."
"But what if instead, we started wiping away those labels that people gave us?" she asked. "We start to figure out that we are so much better than the words that people define us as." Then, Lauren started to write positive words such as "happy" and "love" on her face.
"When we start to love ourselves, the negative words that people will say about us will become irrelevant," she said.
She told WHAG she did the video to help inspire others who find themselves in similar situations as hers. "I wanted kids to understand and look at me and think, 'wow, it does get better,"
If you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts, please immediately call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK, orvisit their website.
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