As a young child I was bullied in school, then I started secondary school, new kids, new start, no more bullying right? No, same thing started to happen. So I started training in Shotokan, met new people, people who treated me with a little more respect than I was used to, competed in a few competitions, won a few, got a few trophies, confidence jumped massively in a few months. Do you know what? The bullying stopped, not because I was tougher or able to punch/kick my way out of a problem, but because I was not afraid to stand up to them. I called them out on their bull, stood up to them and every time, they backed down. Martial Arts didn't make me better because I was ready to smack down, it make me better because I could see when there was no reason to be scared, when to walk away, when someone with a big mouth was nothing to be afraid of.