The Best Revenge

Gossip, lies, and false narratives can be hurtful, but they need not distract us from thriving!

Photo by Yuyang Liu on Unsplash

The best revenge is living a meaningful life and being impervious to lies and false narratives that may be spread about us.

We have probably all experienced someone spreading false rumors about us, gossiping, or just generally being a hater in some way. I speak from personal experience when I say, this can be a frustrating and painful experience, one that often leaves us feeling powerless and wanting to correct the false narrative or even seek revenge. Let’s face it, the people who spend their time saying ugly things are usually far from perfect and would therefore be an easy target if we wanted to behave as they do. Let me ask you, have you ever seen a hater who was truly thriving? Happy, successful people do not have time to tear people down, they’re too busy living their best lives!

I used to look forward to the day when I could set the record straight. I imagined exposing the liars and haters, and I could envision myself feeling vindicated when the truth was known. I also imagined the people who believed the falsehoods realizing they had been misled and being grateful for my clarifications. I now see that this perspective was naive!

Over the years, I have grown, matured, and leaned heartily into making the most of my time on Earth. Knowing that our time is finite has really helped me to prioritize where my energy goes. I realized that I simply do not have time to pay any attention to the people who whisper negativity to anyone who will listen; I realized that the real revenge is no revenge at all.

The best way to deal with people who want to tear you down is to live a happy, abundant life. We might inspire them to do better, or we will show them that their efforts to hurt us are futile. Either way, we will be focused inward and thriving!

“I don’t dislike my haters, they dislike me. I’m doing nothing wrong, I’m just being me.” ― Jamie Lopez

It can be tempting to want to set the record straight and tell the real truth of so many situations, as the writer and poet Sylvia Plath once wrote, “I desire the…