At some point in all of our lives, we are going to be faced with a story about ourselves that we do not want to hear - one that is untrue. One that changes the way that others see us.

When that story surfaces, people will talk.

Let them.

When I was younger, if I found out that people were talking about me in an undesirable way, I would break down. I would crumble.

There was a point where I skipped class for nearly two weeks because of something someone had said about me. I panicked. (Granted I was a sophomore in high school and we all know how emotionally stable fifteen-year-old girls are. HA...But that is beside the point.)

I look back at the way I handled that situation and I feel bad. Not for myself, because like I said, I was fifteen...too young to know any better. I feel bad, however, for the people who never learned from all those years of drama and rumors. I feel bad for the people I know, who are now in their twenties and still break down - for the people who crumble.

It breaks my heart to see good people be broken by lies, simply because someone else needs to feel a little better about themselves. I know that feeling and NO ONE deserves that. No one deserves to be targeted in a selfish ploy to gain the approval of others. That's wrong.

I am lucky. I am lucky because in the five years since the two weeks I stayed home crying, I have learned something more valuable than any false story will ever be. I have learned my own worth.

I don't break down and crumble when someone starts telling a story about me that I know is not true. I don't fight back with more lies, nor do I plead people to believe "my side" of the story. I have learned to put all my trust in time. I have learned that when a lie is being told or a story about something that you would literally never do to someone else is surfacing, the only way to fight back is to hold your fire. Time will tell the truth.

I have learned to have faith in the people around me. I have learned that those who are worth investing my time and friendship in, will find the truth - they will see beyond the bullshit; beyond the lies.

I trust that I am a good person and at the end of the day, I have faith that people will see that. And the people who don't, the people who simply accept the story they are being told, are just as shallow as the person telling the lies in the first place.

You just have to have faith.