I was bullied, but fought back.
Exactly!
In first grade I was bullied somewhat. I remember telling my father when he asked why I came home from school with two black eyes that Jesus said, "turn the other cheek."
My father told me that did not mean we must let ourselves be knocked around, and then ask to be knocked around some more or stand up for ourself. He did tell me though that I should not go looking for trouble, and that it took a bigger man to walk away from a fight than it did to engage in a fight. Then he told me IF someone insisted on making a fight physical and they took the first swing that I should make sure that I took the LAST swing. He told me that is wasn't anything to be ashamed of if one was forced into a fight to make sure you won by whatever means you had. Don't bother to fight clean son, fight to WIN!
That advice served me very well. And the thing I found was it did not take many fights until word got around to leave me alone.