When Lauren Brocious saw that her friend had been at the center of cyberbullying incident, she was determined to do something about it.
The 17-year-old had been a scrolling through her friend’s Instagram when she stumbled across a mean comment that had posted on a photo, according to PEOPLE Magazine. Instead of not doing anything or creating more negativity, she decided to take a stand against cyberbullying in a positive and productive way.
The high school senior decided to create an inspirational YouTube video to comfort her friend and many others who have been bullied or felt defined by labels. In the video, Brocious writes different labels on herself, like “ugly,” “fat,” and “loser,” while also discussing the pain that the labels bring.
WATCH VIDEO: #Labels
“We’ve all been labeled at one point in our lives,” she says. “The hurtful words that people call us. We take those words personally and we take them to heart. We start to believe what other people say about us and forget who we are. We start defining ourselves by other people’s words instead of our own. Eventually those words tear us down until we can’t take it anymore.”
But instead of accepting the labels, she encourages viewers to never let them define who they are: “Other people’s words or labels don’t define you – you define you.”
She emphasized that whether we have been bullied online, in school, on the job, or anywhere, we should never let other people’s words define us: “What if instead we started wiping away those labels that people gave us and we started clearing away these hurtful words from ourselves… because we know they are not who we are? [That’s when] we start to figure out that we are so much better than the words people define us as.”
She goes on to say that it’s only when we clear ourselves of the labels that we can then start to have a clearer, positive view of ourselves and how valuable we are to the world.
“When we start defining ourselves by positive words and positive actions then we become so much more happy and positive in the way that we view ourselves…” she said. “Love yourself for who you are and remember, you are amazing.”
Brocious proves that taking a stand against negative with a positive action against can create an endless ripple that can impact not just one person, but also the lives of many. That’s why she is our One Person, Many Ripples for this month. She is proof that we each can use our lives to make a positive impact.
Need A Massage? Learn How To Give One To Yourself And Your Loved Ones
Receiving a massage, whether it’s given by someone else or self-administered, can help loosen your muscles and establish a better connection not only with your body but also with the people you love.
