I was ridiculed throughout my years at school because we didn't have much money and a very large family, and we lived in a very preppy area. And it was relentless. That has nothing to do with who I am or how I feel about myself. Other people do not determine for me who I am.
Likewise, when I started working it was at a factory where I was one of few singles who worked there. I was accused of having affairs with every married man in the place, even had my car sabotaged at one point by one of the friends of a wife in a gossip incident. All because supervisors need to ask people how things are going or ask what the trouble is. In other words it requires talking to them, married or not.
So don't tell me I don't know what I am talking about or if I did I might feel differently. I have faced all kinds of adversity. Those things may have gone into who and what I am as far as strength, but they do NOT determine my attitude, my present, or my future and never will.
But my point is that not all folks are that strong. What works for strong-willed people like you will simply not work for others. That's all that I'm saying.