Am I Normal?

When I was younger, sometimes I heard comments like ‘loser’ being whispered behind my back.

I wasn’t like the others in the class; I was ‘abnormal’ as I was academic, because I was a Christian, because I liked to read books, because I didn’t like playing outside that much … As I grew older, people still made comments about me. I caught people looking at me: I wasn’t like the rest of the crowd, I wasn’t ‘normal’.

I enjoy meeting my bullies so I can show them that they didn’t break me.

It really does something to you when you continually hear or even physically feel that you don’t fit in. Even though I had a small group of very good friends, there were some small things that for a long time made me think ‘I can’t do this’. For example, I could never wear a skirt that was shorter than knee-length; that was what the popular, cool girls did. It didn’t need to be a miniskirt, but the fact that it was above my kneecaps made me feel uncomfortable. I just couldn’t wear that!

Today I have no problem at all wearing, or doing, what I want to; I’ve put the comments and the stares behind me! And one more thing, I enjoy meeting my bullies so I can show them that they didn’t break me, but that I dare to do just what I want and be the person I am 100 per cent!

Rescue me, Lord, from evildoers;

protect me from the violent,

who devise evil plans in their hearts

and stir up war every day.

They make their tongues as sharp as a serpent’s;

the poison of vipers is on their lips.

Keep me safe, Lord, from the hands of the wicked;

protect me from the violent,

who devise ways to trip my feet.

The arrogant have hidden a snare for me;

they have spread out the cords of their net

and have set traps for me along my path. 

I say to the Lord, ‘You are my God.’

Hear, Lord, my cry for mercy.

Sovereign Lord, my strong deliverer,

You shield my head in the day of battle.

Do not grant the wicked their desires, Lord;

do not let their plans succeed.

 Psalm 140:1–8