The Reality of Junior High

In class today we were talking all about how much outside feedback can contribute to the way we feel about ourselves. Sister Embree made the comment about how important the role of parents is. During my childhood my parents were EXTREMELY positive. They were of the mentality of "If you can't say something nice don't say anything at all." Unless of course we had done something wrong and needed to learn why we should or should not do something. But all growing up we were not allowed to tease our siblings, my parents were constantly giving us all really positive feedback so I had this like killer self-esteem. I thought I was pretty great. Then I reached Junior High. It seemed as if the world was out to get me. Everyone made fun of EVERYTHING I did or said. I had never been around this so I thought that I was this awful, horrible, worthless person. I didn't realize that they were making fun of everyone else to, they just were used to it so it didn't bother them. I feel like I went into Junior High and I made what my peers were saying be more important than what my family had been telling me all my life. I wish I hadn't. I wish I had just trusted my parents.