When the Bullied Become the Bullies: The Hidden Evolution of Pain

 

🗓 Week 6 — When Wolves Were Once Lambs
Series: Wolves — The Psychology of Pack and Pain

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🐺 Story Intro:

Once upon a recess bell, there was a quiet boy named Arham.
He wore kindness like an oversized shirt — loose, awkward, and easy to pull at.
In middle school, he was the one they mocked for stuttering during roll call, for his old shoes, for the way he smiled too earnestly.

Every day, his lunchbox came back lighter, not because he ate — but because someone else had taken his food.
He learned to survive by shrinking, by laughing along when the jokes burned him, by pretending he didn’t care.

But the truth?
He did. Deeply.
And when he grew up, that pain hardened — not into wisdom, but into armor.

By high school, the same Arham had become someone else’s fear.
He learned that it’s better to bite than bleed.
The bullied boy had become the bully.

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🌒 Theme: When Pain Mutates into Cruelty

Pain is strange.
If you don’t heal it, it doesn’t vanish — it transforms.
It hides behind loud laughter, sharp words, and false confidence.
The bullied often carry the imprint of humiliation, and when they finally gain power, some unconsciously replicate what was once done to them.

Not because they’re evil — but because that’s what they were taught power looks like.
Control. Dominance. The illusion of safety.

But here’s the truth the wolf rarely admits:
He still remembers the lamb he once was.
He still flinches at echoes of his own cruelty.
He still wonders — “If I stop being the wolf, will they hurt me again?”

Healing means daring to be soft again.
To admit that you were once hurt, and that you hurt others too.
It’s the hardest form of courage — to face the child you buried inside yourself.

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🌕 Reflection Prompt:

Who hurt you in ways you never acknowledged — and how might that pain be shaping how you treat others today?

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🪶 Engagement Prompt:

Share one small way you’ve broken the chain — maybe you chose empathy when anger felt easier.
Let’s remind each other: not all wolves stay wild. Some remember how to love again.