Today, my day started with a phone call with a friend that lasted for hours, listening to how Workplace Bullying has made her life stressful and how this has led her to even think of suicide.
Yes, Suicide. She mentioned this word more than twice in our hours-long conversation. Mind you, this is a young adult talking about being bullied at her workplace by other young adults.
Frankly, I was not shocked and listened to her, as I could relate to everything she had to say. I know exactly how she feels. I’ve dealt with workplace bullying my whole life.
How did workplace bullying break my confidence?
I think we have all been bullied at the workplace at some point in our lives. I, too, had been severely bullied by a group of people and a manager at a company I worked for. It got so bad that I started getting sick and wanted to kill myself.
I did not understand what and why it was happening, as I was doing great at my job. I was a happy, healthy, smart, honest, and independent thinker. Usually, those are the qualities that people value. Right?
Being aware, I knew they were jealous and intimidated by me. For me, quitting a job was not an option, and I believed it would not fix it, as people like these exist everywhere.
Workplace Bullying-What did I do?
I maintained a neutral approach at work and continued to work there until I was humiliated in earshot regularly for little errors and had members of the team go behind my back to try and get me in trouble with the boss for even the smallest of mistakes, get told off for things that weren’t even my responsibility or fault, get spoken to like a badly behaved child, and rarely, if ever, receive any positive feedback despite all the hard work I did.
It got to a point where I just hit a wall because, no matter how hard I tried, these people never appreciated what I did.
This experience broke me, and my confidence was at an all-time low. It started a phase in my career where I became a bottom performer at work, and no one cared why that was happening. Mentors were ready to sabotage me if I contacted them.
The management and leadership had failed me. I slowly became closed-off and the opposite of who I was when I joined this workplace. I did not know what to do and felt helpless. So, I decided to educate myself, which eventually helped me restore my confidence and mental health.
If you are here, you are going through a similar experience. Let me tell you that in a situation like this, there is hardly anything one can do, but learning about workplace bullying can help you understand that you are not the problem and you do not have to punish yourself further by running a marathon of self-doubt in your head.
I repeat, YOU ARE NOT THE PROBLEM !!!!!!
I told the same to my friend, and she hung up feeling better.
Once you educate yourself on workplace bullying and how it can affect your mental health, you will be in a much better mental state to decide the next steps and to approach this situation wisely.
I did the same and learned that I am not the problem. To top it I ended up writing a series of blogs on Workplace bullying, how it affects you an how you can beat it like the boss you are and What you need to do after experiencing severe bullying and quitting your workplace.
Love
G
When not working, can usually be found reading a book, spending (perhaps a little too much) time meditating, practicing yog, or just vibing in the present moment like a mindfulness pro. And—despite claiming she knits very badly—she still picks up the needles now and then. Blogging to share her life learnings is her passion!