Is it normal that i'm stuck with a friend like this?
I have this friend who spreads very, very subtle lies about me. The bigger of such saying that I ran away when a fight broke out on two occasions(I never join fights but I'll shove a guy around to protect a friend if I have to). I ran from neither, and in fact joined in them to try and protect a friend. The first time he said this to my girlfriend who called me a coward, but I was lucky I had a friend who was able to stand up for me and tell me that it was not true. But the second time it was just me and him, so many people think his "side" of the story is the true one. He also points blame to me in any situation he can and tries to downplay any minor achievement I make. It's all really subtle but happens quite often and he passes ALL of this onto my ex girlfriend who now thinks I'm a coward who does nothing but mess up people's plans.
I can't easily stop being friends with him. Not only is he heavily ingrained into my circle of friends (to the point that I would probably lose one good friend if I outcast him), but his family and mine are on very good terms and they tend to visit a lot.
It feels like he's trying to outdo me in everything. Coming from someone about 4 years younger than me, who used to look up to me.
is it normal to have a friend like this? It's really stressful how he spreads these small lies about me, especially to someone like my ex girlfriend who tried to leave the relationship on good terms, and I cared about her enough that it will hurt if I find she has a bad opinion of me. Especially one that is false.