Although I absolutely detest it when I'm just trying to mind my business, maybe having a few disagreements with others here and there, and I'm suddenly targeted by people of questionable, if not inexistent, morality, with smear campaigns and worse, life can go two ways:
1. They get their way. I'm destroyed. I'm out of the game.
2. They unlock Hero mode. This is when and where my character gets tested and, if lacking, developed too. I also hold back less in asking for what I want and what I need because that's no longer merely a whim and can instead be fully justified (though I should probably be more affirming regardless). Furthermore, it brings powerful (and virtuous) people closer to me as they notice the vicious and malicious attempts to strip me of my own power and, ironically, I end up with more power than I formerly had. Add to that the power that my opposition adds simply by being paranoid of me, as they project all of their vices onto me, and that somehow, in one way or another, with how everything works, along with a refusal to give up, makes me GREATER than I even imagined I would be. Yes, the whole wiser, stronger, braver, and more.
I'm not excusing nor applauding these jerks jumping at you, throwing you off, and potentially catching you before you're ready. But it's worth mentioning that these are circumstances that, if you are able to get to the other side, can take you forward, to a point you may not have wished for, but then are glad and relieved you got to.
If this is you and you are currently going through something like this... Believe in yourself and don't take for granted all the support coming your way. From God, The Universe, the Mysterious Forces at play, and whatever else you've been planting, knowingly or not, on your path.
