Liam Neeson (suggested by Jake Lanham)
“Why would anyone ever tell anything personal to a journalist?”
The job of a journalist is to gather information and then tell the public, slanted in a way that seems interesting and exciting to them. Celebrities have traditionally had trouble with journalists who are constantly prying into their private lives hoping to find shocking things they can disclose.
Paparazzi are another breed altogether, almost rabid in their devotion to getting compromising images of celebrities to sell.
How about your own situation? Even if you are not a celebrity, there are people around who are trying find out private things about you they can disclose to others. These intrepid individuals are called gossips.
Gossip is a tradition as old as communication. The gossip feels the need to know things others don’t so they can ‘WOW’ everyone with the secret knowledge in order to gain importance for themselves.
The gossip just isn’t happy with normal facts however, and it usually takes something shocking to really make them feel superior. If the original facts aren’t shocking enough, they lie, using additional embellishments to make the tales more exotic.
All of us know gossips, and may try to avoid them, but they can be quite resourceful in gathering information on you. Just don’t tell anyone personal things until you know absolutely you can trust them. Once a person misuses information you have entrusted them with even once, mark them and never trust their discretion again. Trust is earned, and that trust can be destroyed in an instant.
Another thing that would help is to avoid behaviors that gossips would find interesting in the first place. People complain of boring lives, but it sure can go a long way to avoiding being a gossip target! Don’t forget, they are watching for you to slip up and give them fodder for the rumor mill.
Will Rogers said,
“Live in such a way that you would not be ashamed to sell your parrot to the town gossip.”
If you have nothing to hide, they have nothing to tell!
One more quote:
“Gossip is the Devil’s radio.”
George Harrison
Liam Neeson on The International Movie Database
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George Bernard Shaw
“If you can’t get rid of the skeleton in your closet, you’d best teach it to dance.”
Did you ever do something you were really ashamed of? Of course, we all have. Sometimes I will remember a moment of some public faux pas I committed in childhood, and get embarrassed all over again. Like that time in the 1st grade I was adamant that my middle name started with a C, not with a K like the girl in the next desk was saying. When she was proven right, I was mortified. I didn’t even know how to spell my own name.
These moments are in all of us, but even if something was a life changing event for ourselves, it is likely that no one else remembers. While they won’t constitute a negative for others in their relations with you, they have the potential to become a positive experience for your personal development.
As embarrassing as “the great name misspelling incident” was, it was also a positive, life forming moment. I vowed never to be caught in public again not knowing how to spell something. It started a life long romance with reading that has always served me well. I have fallen from this lofty standard on occasion, but rarely. But hey, This skeleton dances.
The new year always conjures up visions of renewal and fresh starts. Sounds like a good idea. Try not to get bogged down in the enormity of how big that skeleton is. As I said before, others can’t see your skeleton. They are too busy hiding behind their own.
You may ask, “but what am I supposed to do if my skeleton is so big it is in the way of living my life?” There are things like prison terms, public displays of drunken behavior, and other things that were so public and memorable that others look at them and say, “I am really glad I didn’t do something like that!”
These things are really a challenge, I admit, but it’s time to let those bones rattle and shake as you move out from behind them. If everyone knows anyway, why hide it? Hiding means you are so ashamed you can’t show your face. It’s time to own up to it. It will also diffuse the gossips mentioned in the first segment of this episode. If you talk about it, there is no attraction for them since it is already public.
If you are a writer, write a blog or book about the lessons you learned from the experience. The more you acknowledge and deal with things that were very public to start with, the more others will begin to understand and take you seriously. It becomes clear that you are reformed and ready to get on with life. Publish a Kindle book and you may help a LOT of people and make a buck too!
Another thing, since everyone else has idle skeletons in their own closets, things they fear will be disclosed, you can be an example to others of how to deal with them. Your experiences will encourage others to leave their “bare bones existence” and live again.
It’s time for the skeletons in your life to dance. Eventually, the skeletons will cease to be, and you will have room for some new clothes and shoes in there.
George Bernard Shaw on Wikipedia
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I would like to give an extra special thank you to Dave Jackson of the schoolofpodcasting.com for including Daggers Of The Mind in his new book, “My Favorite Podcast is… Understanding Audience Loyalty. Dave is a great guy and a man of incredible compassion and integrity.
My Favorite Podcast Is.... Understanding Audience Loyalty on Amazon.com
Featured Episode on Dave Jackson's School of Podcasting
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