Make Yourself Bully Proof

At 5.20pm GMT today something big will happen at BBC Radio One and it’s for a very good cause.

The secret stunt is all part of Radio One’s Bully Proof Project, a campaign targeting awareness of bullying and the effects it has on victims. It’s quite frankly a brilliant idea.

I used to be bullied at school and still remember hating getting ready each morning, dreading who’d I’d run into and what kind of crap I’d have to put up with. It took me a very long time to realize that if I wanted things to change I had to do something about it. Here’s my single bit of advice…

Do not make the bully the centre of your universe.

It annoys me no end when victims of bullying are advised to ‘ignore it and it will go away.’ Ignoring the situation will only make it worse! You can’t turn a blind eye to bullying, you have to be pro-active and have the self-confidence to think differently about the problem; something a bully will want to destroy! There are so many things you can do to boost your moral; take up a hobby after school or work, surround yourself with people who care about you and find something you are really good at and enjoy.

I immersed myself in music and writing, found some amazing friends and got involved in any kind of after school activity I could find. Soon bullying taunts meant so little to me and eventually they went away.

This is such as important cause for the BBC and I’m so happy it’s already been a massive success. Newspapers are filled with support for the project while Aled Haydn Jones’s Bully Proof surgery special is even Heat Magazine’s radio pick of the week!

Bully Proof’s advice on everything from body language to making web profiles safer has got to be recognized as a fantastic effort to build victims self-confidence, and tackle this issue that affects so many people on a day to day basis.
Below are a couple of widgets to help spread the word. This has got the backing of many celebs including Cheryl Cole, Alesha Dixon, Alexandra Burke, Mr Hudson, Cobra Starship, Ricky Whittle, and The Saturdays. Well done Radio One.