‘Focus on what you love and not those that bring you down’
Mitchell House Gr 12 learner, Arlinka Viljoen had a low self-esteem and felt alone through most of her schooling due to bullying. She shares her experience and how she overcame it.
POLOKWANE – From abusive behaviour on the school playground to disrespecting classmates on social media platforms or face to face, bullying is a widespread problem that can affect a child’s mental and emotional health, as well as impact their school work.
Mitchell House Gr 12 learner, Arlinka Viljoen had a low self-esteem and felt alone through most of her schooling due to this phenomenon. She speaks to Review about her experience being bullied and how she overcame it.
She explained that she was bullied in primary school, and learned to deal with it peacefully by getting involved in video games. “I survived trauma throughout my life and I never gave up, even through the most difficult of times because I made a conscious decision that I would never stop fighting to make my dreams come true,” she said.
She said she identified bullying at school through the behaviour from other learners which included, name-calling, giving her weird looks and gossiping about her. “All the mean things one can think about, these caused me a lot of emotional pain. I did not have any friends and felt isolated. This resulted in me having low self-esteem and at times, because of the bullying, I even faked illnesses to avoid having to attend school.”
She told Review that once she came to the realisation that what she did in her life was for herself and only herself, she was able to deal with the bullying. “I realised I was attending school to better my future and not for other people. I did not let whatever the bullies did affect me mentally or academically, no matter what. I focused all my attention on what was more important, my school work and my future.”
She added that she put all her focus into schoolwork and into her game developing. “When I was home, I was always on my computer, developing games, and that’s what helped me overcome what I was going through at school,” she said.
Her advice to learners that feel isolated or sidelined at school because of bullying is to find the one thing that they are passionate about and focus on that instead of the bullies. “By finding something you like, the same way I found love in developing video games, will help you put your focus into more important things, the things that matter in life. After all, you attend school for a few hours, then you are back at home with the people who love you regardless of what you look or act like. You can then focus on the things that will make your future bright,” she advised.
Through her love for game developing, Arlinka has been given an opportunity to study video game development with the Universal Art School, in Spain. Read more about this new venture in her life in next week’s Bonus Review
