One of the most-read articles I’ve written was about mean girls, so I think I struck a chord. That makes me sad because I know so many of us encounter mean girls in our personal and professional lives at every age and stage of our lives.

I find that success brings the haters out the woodworks. Some people you thought were your friends turn out not to be. People are fickle. Nothing in life is certain. I’ve learned the hard way to be very careful who I trust and let my intuition guide the way. I had seen red flags with each of these people that I chose to ignore and it hurt me in the end.

Your high-quality friends are the ones who celebrate with you, rather than let their envy get the best of them. They support you no matter what – good and bad. They are like family.

People are judging and hating on you right now. Some people will like you and then change their mind about you or never like you at all (for no reason) and there’s nothing you can do about it. No amount of people-pleasing or convincing will help. If someone doesn’t like you, there’s no point in trying to convince them to. Why bother – you don’t need that! Just live YOUR life and be unapologetically YOU.

No matter how old you are or what you do, someone will stab you in the back at some point in your life.

I have been betrayed both personally and professionally, and sometimes I’ve seen it coming and other times, it completely caught me off guard. I usually have a strong intuition, but sometimes it kicks in too late, as I am a very trusting and open person.

Unfortunately there are just some people in this world who think that lying, hurting others, causing drama spreading gossip is necessary to get ahead or entertaining. These are dangerous people who you should try and avoid at all costs.

Each of us (I hope) tries to be a good person every day. You show people you are a good person by taking actions consistent with what you define as being a good person.