Single for 3 years, want a girlfriend, just came out as lesbian

Yeah, I was in a horrendous relationship with someone about 3 years ago and I’m ready to start dating again but I am paranoid. There has been things that happened that played out on social media and people actually was believing it for some odd reason. Those people I no longer hang around and I changed my life drastically. The issue that it still looms over me about the incident and I know the world is very small. How do I stop thinking about this…or should I explain myself from the beginning? I’m ready to move on and be happy with someone else?