Stop Anticipating the Worst: Determine A Bully's Threat Level

Anticipate the Bully as a bigger threat than they actually are, and your imagination will start to work against you. In this episode we sort out the difference between bullying and the sort of physical violence that exceeds it. To get your imagination to slow down its reel of worst case scenarios, I advise listeners to use a specific strategy to determine the bully's threat level: Use the old saying, actions speak louder than words, as your guide. Look at a given bully's past actions to determine what they're likely to do in the future. If they are unknown to you or likely to do physical harm, then their threats need to be reported to adult authorities. However, if they are in the far more likely group of bullies, who may issue threats but don't cause much physical harm, then it's probable they are not a danger. This means you can stop anticipating the worst from them, see them for what they are, and prepare to call their bluff. Either way you can stop anticipating once you've assessed and addressed.