Have you ever been bullied in school? If yes, how did you cope with the mental and physical torture you had to go through? Bullying is a serious issue, and it doesn’t only happen within the four walls of the school. Adults can get bullied, too. It could happen in the workplace, within your circle of friends, in cyberspace, and even within the family.

Skin White’s “U Spark: Girls Inspiring Girls” campaign wants you to take a stand against negativity by sparking a change that’s not just skin deep–a sparkle that can outshine all the pessimism thrown at you. But how do you exactly stand up against bullying? Here are three ways:

Evaluate the situation
Look at it from a different point of view and try to find the root cause of the bullying. Did you do anything that could have provoked him or her which caused the bullying? Or is it just because of who he is as a person?

Cheryl Dellasega, author of Mean Girls Grown Up: Adult Women Who Are Still Queen Bees, Middle Bees, and Afraid-to-Bees says you have to determine how it’s affecting your life, so you’ll know if you should just ignore it or take some action. If it doesn’t bother you that much, shrug it off, but if it’s making you hate going to work or is depressing you, then you should definitely do something about it.

Stand up for yourself.
Speak up and don’t let that person step all over you. Bullying is about imposing power and control, so if you seem to be an easy target you’ll most likely be taunted again and again–especially if you keep quiet about it.

Bullies do it repeatedly because they know they can get away with it. Nobody is calling them out on their bad behaviour. Bullies think that when no one pays attention, or if other people ignore their obnoxious behavior, they assume that bullying his victim must be O.K.

Tell someone about it.
Sometimes, things can get out of control and bullies tend to be irrational or even physical. It would be best if you talked to your superior or someone who has more authority over you and the person bullying you. Trying going to the HR first to voice out your complaints since they’re the ones who are trained to handle these kinds of situations.

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