Demi Lovato is absolutely my favorite music artist. Her stunning vocals with powerful lyrics make for amazing songs.
While I seriously love just about all of her songs, my top favorites of hers are “Skyscraper”, “Shouldn’t Come Back”, and “Give Your Heart a Break”. Perhaps my favorite part of Demi is her story. Years of constant, severe bullying lead her to develop eating disorders and inflict self-injury. In her early teenage years, she got treatment for her disorders where she went from public school to home-school. Going into the acting business, pressure slowly built and constantly pressed down on her. In her late teens, she went back into treatment. Today, she shares her story proudly. She has become a spokesperson for anti-bullying organizations, spreading awareness for the issue, which only recently has been recognized worldwide as a serious problem. In her new album named DEMI, many of the songs are written by Demi herself and convey a personal message. Several of the songs are about her friend, Trenton Stout. He and Demi grew up together in Texas. They were best friends. One day, Trenton committed suicide after years of severe bullying.
[one_third]While Demi is alive to tell not only her own personal story but Trenton’s story as well, many stories go untold.[/one_third]
[two_third_last]It seems that the bullying issue nationwide has lost its popularity as states started establishing laws opposing and deterring bullying in schools. It seems that a veil of safety has covered the nation’s schools. I remember when we had a counseling period at the school I go to, and the topic was bullying. A lot of my friends were very uninterested. Many said comments like how they already know, it doesn’t really pertain because we’re a private school, etc. One type of bullying that is rarely discussed and greatly overlooked is the bullying of oneself. We talk about cyberbullying, we talk about physical bullying, but we barely talk about emotional bullying. We all bully ourselves to some extent. “Oh, that was dumb of me.” “Oh my gosh, I’m so awkward.” “Ugh, why can’t I do this.” We’ve all said something similar to ourselves before. [/two_third_last] The problem is that pressure society pushes on teens has greatly increased. It’s all about getting the grades to get into a good college to get a good job to get a good pay to get a good life and all the while having to look a certain way doing it. The idea that one wrong move in high school can affect the rest of one’s future has caused many young people to go off the edge (quite literally). There’s no “bad guy” someone can catch and scold; there’s no law that can stop it either. It’s because the “bad guy” is oneself. Self-bullying is as huge a problem as the other types of bullying. The reality is that the people you eat lunch with everyday could be bullying themselves, and you would never even know. It doesn’t matter how happy someone looks; they could be dying on the inside because they didn’t do good on a test or did something a little embarrassing while getting lunch.
While Demi is alive to tell not only her own personal story but Trenton’s story as well, many stories go untold. Many are too scared to share their struggles because they don’t want to be viewed as weak. Society picks on the weak for breakfast, but reality is that even the strongest need a break.
The chances are that even after reading something like this, no one is going to go out and share that they’re struggle with anyone even their closest friends, so instead, if you’re reading this, I have a mission for you:
Step 1: Go and have a personal and intimate conversation with your friends once in a while.
Step 2: Go and have a conversation with someone who may not be your “friend”. It could simply be someone at school you don’t really know that well or don’t talk to very often. Just remember to be kind, genuine, and patient. The person may not want to share their entire life’s struggles with you immediately. Let them open up to you. If anything, just bother yourself to say hi to new people everyday. A simple “hi” can positively change a person’s day. It lets people know you’re friendly and that they may be able to open up to you.
Honestly, it all may sound really, really cheesy, but we really have to be more socially aware of people. It’s a silent problem. It’s not easy to discuss. It’s not going to go away anytime soon, but things needs to start changing: no more teens crying because they don’t look a certain way or they failed a test.
Talk to people.
