“Be the Villian in Other People’s Stories.”

You will sleep better at night, -promise.

Mishel Noor
ZORA
Published in
3 min readMay 28, 2023

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Photo by Vladimir Yelizarov on Unsplas

Being the villain in someone else’s story is never a good feeling, but undoubtedly somewhere to someone, you are. I am growing to understand this about humans and learning to accept that it is NOT a personal attack on me but rather a projection of their hate for themselves; or their displeasure with whatever boundaries I might have set for myself.

I promise you, divorcing yourself from other people’s opinions, judgments, and narratives is the biggest, baddest flex you could ever achieve. Stop banging your head against the wall and losing sleep, trying to defend yourself against baseless attacks or rumors. It’s not your story to write, so stop trying to edit it. At the end of the day, you’re writing your story, and they are writing theirs. Both are true from their respective perspectives, and you can’t get bent out of shape by someone’s perception of reality. If they wanted to change their mindset about you, they would engage you in dialogue. They would ask to understand and open their mind and heart to learn. They would be willing to take accountability for their role in the narrative they created about you! You can’t control what comes from their pen any more than they can control who you are…and that’s why knowing and owning who you are is so important. A new type of…

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ZORA
ZORA

Published in ZORA

A publication from Medium that centers the stories, poetry, essays and thoughts of women of color.

Mishel Noor
Mishel Noor

Written by Mishel Noor

Soft Life Advocate, Light Bearer, Planter of Seeds, Repeller of Negativity…Unpopular Opinion Holder. I have a lot to say, about about a lot things. Here Goes.

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