David "Doc" Jackson
Nov 1 · 1 min read

I don’t hate you, and I’ve been cheated on. Truth be told, all the people who said they hate you don’t either; they’re misdirecting rage that they’re actually feeling toward the person who cheated on them. In reality, your cheating had no effect on them whatsoever and they can make no rational or factual claim that it did, especially given that they didn’t even know about it until well after the fact. They hurt because someone else hurt them, and they want someone to punish for it, so they say mean things to you because you’re available, not because you actually did anything to them.

So take it all with a grain of salt. In the end, only your own assessment of your actions means anything at all, and only to the extent that you learn from it. The rest is noise, not signal. Treat it as such.

David "Doc" Jackson

Written by

Author, 42 years. Life, relationship, grief, and career coach since 2002. ESTJ-A (Executive), sheepdog. Objectivist. Chef. Jack of all trades, master of a few.

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