Gossip inflicts real pain on people. Most of us know first hand that this is a true statement. Gossip is cowardly, untraceable, manipulative, grown-up bullying, disguised as conversation. I’ve observed it…been the subject of it…listen to it…and take part in it…but I won’t take the time to participate in it like I once did. Quite frankly I don’t have the stomach for it anymore.
Am I above it? Yeah…I like to think so. Have I kicked the habit? Not by a long shot, but I’m working on it.
Who’s got the time?
If you’re into this way of thinking I have a suggestion for you: Don’t make time for this kind of pain. Cool your self-righteous jets and learn to bite your tongue because most of the time you don’t know the half of it anyway. Someone pretty darn famous once said, “Live and let live.” That’s some good advice right there.
I have some suggestions of my own though they’re not quite as eloquent and JC’s. Still…we won’t have as much time to spend bashing others if we do the following:
- Write our own stories and let others do the same. There are a ton of people (the media included) who have an opinion about how we should live our lives and what what we owe to others. Screw ‘em. They should take a look in the mirror and work on themselves.
- Take chances…make mistakes…and learn from our failures to be better versions of what we were. Just make sure that YOU define what failure means to you.
- Take a moment to high-five yourself in your personal victories. Sometimes you’re only person you’ll have when you win. Take care of that guy. (Or girl…)
- Be brave enough to apologize…and strong enough to accept apologies in return. It takes a real man/woman to do either and they are the ones we should be talking about.
- Defend people who are absent. I find that this stops gossip in it’s tracks and infuses conversations with positive, directional energy. Gossip peddlers are black holes that suck energy. Avoid them like the plague and we’ll all be a lot better off.
I suppose I’m waging an individual war against gossip and the self-appointed town criers who practice it. I don’t have time to cause or care about that kind of pain anymore. Wanna’ join me?
Take it away, Carly…
