I Was Bullied for Being Bigger ~ But Here’s What They Didn’t Break

By Tash Jarrett

You know what we still don’t talk about enough??

That the words they throw at you when you’re young don’t always disappear when you grow up.

They hang around. Tucked inside your bones. Caught in your breath. Sometimes still echoing on repeat when you when catch a glimpse of yourself in the mirror.

I was bullied for being bigger.

Not just teased.

Not just "kids being kids."

I’m talking about daily jabs.

The seat next to me on the bus that always stayed empty.

The cruel nicknames.

The way teachers didn’t intervene.

The comments about how I moved, what I wore, what I ate.

And worst of all?

Some of it came from people I loved.

Family. Friends. Adults who should’ve known better. Back then, I didn’t have the words to fight back.

I didn’t have the confidence or the language to say,

"Actually, my body is not the problem. Your cruelty is."

So I did what so many of us do.

I shrunk. Not physically…….. yet, but emotionally.

I tried to blend in. Tried to disappear.

I became the funny one, the helper, the people pleaser. I tried to make myself loveable so that maybe, just maybe, they’d stop seeing my size as a reason to hurt me. 😞

But here’s where the story turns.

Because I didn’t stay there.

And if you’ve ever felt like that, like the person too big to belong, I want you to know something.

You don’t have to stay there either.

When I had gastric bypass, people thought it was just about weight and that is where it started but that was not the end of it!!!

For me, it was about taking my power back.

It was about reclaiming my body, my voice, and my health, not just physical, but emotional.

It was for my kids.

For the future.

For the version of me that was tired of shrinking and finally ready to rise.

Do I still remember the things they said?

Yes.

But now I say louder things. Kinder things. Stronger things.

I say them to myself.

I say them to others.

I say them in rooms and online spaces where people like us exist.

Bigger or smaller, but always worthy.

So if you’ve ever been bullied, excluded, mocked, or made to feel less than because of your body, please hear this from me.

There is nothing wrong with you.

There never was.

The problem was the world, not your weight.

The problem was the bullying, not your body.

And healing?

It’s not linear.

But it’s possible.

With every meal I nourish myself.

With every walk I take.

With every story I share.

I get to rewrite what they tried to define.

This is me now.

Not perfect.

Not pretending.

But powerful.

And finally, finally free.

Love always,

Tash