Rising Sun, I’m sorry you’re going through such a painful time right now. I remember feeling hated by certain teachers; it was awful. I wish I could share a couple of incidents with you where I was publicly humiliated by those teachers, but it would violate some people’s privacy, mostly my own.
At a certain point, though, I realized that the teachers were only projecting their own painful inadequacies and insecurities onto me, and their attitude toward me was in no way a reflection of my worth. Even though they were already adults, their unresolved issues caused them to behave like kids, hurting others when their pain surfaced.
Actually, noticing which situations or behaviors triggered their hurtful actions was very revealing. It helped me understand some of their flaws and how they must be struggling because of them. This helped me see my teachers as humans who had to struggle to overcome their own painful and difficult feelings the same way everyone else must.
Then I didn’t feel they hated me; at those moments that they hurt me, they were just people in terrible pain. When someone is in pain, you understand that whatever they say is just their pain exploding and has nothing to do with you.
The realization that my teachers’ hurtful words stemmed from their own deficiencies freed me of any negativity toward them. I am very grateful to have learned this about people at a young age; my life is clearly positively impacted both personally and professionally from having this viewpoint.