From “Where There’s Smoke”

They not only hurt you in the moment, they can develop a life and momentum of their own. A bad reputation can follow you in your old circle or proceed you before you enter a new one. It can freeze you in time. A bad reputation becomes other people’s negative expectations, a filter through which they see you.

Sometimes, nothing you do can break you out of the prison of their preconceived notions, and nothing is so disheartening to find you have been judged by people you haven’t even met yet.

Perhaps, in the minds of some people, you may be an unsavory or despicable character, but there are other people and other situations where you can start anew. Unfortunately for some targets, it may not always be possible to put enough distance between you and your damaged reputation.

The good news is, while some people’s perceptions may be frozen, you’re not. In my own experience, I’ve occasionally run into a few people, whose negative preconceived notions, due to someone else’s propensity for false allegations, did impact me somewhat. But I took the steps I needed to expand my own circle of influence and to come to peace within myself, so that their attitudes and closed doors didn’t matter. I opened new ones.