It’s easy to get discouraged when you feel like you’re being sidelined. When people unfamiliar with your character or your work ethic throw you under the bus to serve their own ambitions. When your name gets brought up in rooms you’ve never entered, and stories are told about you by people who never took the time to ask for the truth.

You feel the sting of being misunderstood. Misrepresented. Misused. And maybe the most difficult part is staying silent. Choosing to rise above instead of getting down in the dirt with people who seem all too comfortable there.

There is something painful about watching others advance by climbing over the backs of those who chose kindness over competition. Who chose humility over a spotlight. Who chose to keep their head down and do the work with excellence, not applause.

And maybe that’s what stings the most. That you did the right thing, the honest thing, and somehow still found yourself bruised by it.

I know what it feels like to wonder if it’s worth it. To carry yourself with integrity in a world that seems to reward those who cut corners and speak louder than everyone else in the room. I’ve wrestled with the temptation to prove myself, to defend my name, to make sure the truth is known. But I’ve learned this truth, even when it’s hard to swallow, character doesn’t need a megaphone.

Time has a way of revealing who people really are. And if you keep showing up, keep doing the work, keep staying true to who you are when no one is watching, you’ll find peace that applause could never offer. The people who matter won’t need convincing. And the ones who do were never meant to define you anyway.

Let them talk. Let them underestimate you. Let them write you off.

Because you are not here to impress anyone. You are here to live out your purpose with quiet courage and a steady hand. And there’s something holy about that kind of faithfulness.

So don’t shrink. Don’t retaliate. Don’t let bitterness take root.

Keep showing up with kindness. Keep doing the hard work with honor. Keep choosing the narrow road. Because even if it doesn’t lead to their platform, it always leads to peace.