I got picked on all the way up until high school when I grew a spine. It dawned on me around then I shouldn't be taking shit from whomever it was doing the bullying since I probably twice their size, and a lot of it was muscle since I played 3 different sports. It took me getting suspended for fighting 8 times in one year to get it through peoples' heads I wasn't fucking around anymore. It also helped I was friends with all of the criminals, so they had my back.