Thanks for this.
I also had a bully-filled childhood.
With me it was due to being the pale, silent nerd type, and my mother made it worse by dressing me in god awful clothes that no other kid would wear.
Her reactions were also counterproductive, telling me I'm a bully magnet and that I should just insult them back.
It took me a LOT longer than you I think to accept the truth of who I am, which I only properly managed since my understanding of bitcoin. I don't think that was a coincidence!