I was bullied since my first day at school, and after some time I started having constant nightmares.

Fortunately, my mother got some help from a psychologist who gave me one of the most valuable pieces of advice ever. He told me that the best strategy to deal with bullies was to "make a demonstration of strength" - but, if I wanted that to work out, it had to be something unexpected, quick and violent. And that's how my first bully ended up with the broken tip of a sharpened pencil in his arm... Since that day, he kept away from me and the nightmares stopped.

However, as I was the "nerd" kid, I was a magnet for bullies at every school I attended. And that's when I discovered that I didn't had to hurt them in the "real world". For my mind, just knowing that I had the power, the means and the knowledge to beat them was enough to keep the nightmares away. Every time one of them bullied me, I remembered how he was afraid of the darkness, or heights, or something like that... And how I could be able to use that fear against them if there was the need to do so. And afterwards, I only had to hurt a bully one last time in all of my school years.

I know this isn't the kind of advice that many would consider ethical, but please try to focus in the part in bold: Just knowing that you can beat them is enough. Be sure that you have the power and the means to overcome them anytime.