The No Gossip Challenge

Though I usually post about food here, I like to share other parts of my life with you guys sometimes. I've written about my running and you guys seemed to like that. 


Some of you who know me may know that I'm a bit of a gossip. And when I say 'a bit', I may be underestimating it, just a tad. Truth is, I love a juicy story. And unfortunately for me, people tend to like to share private things with me. This puts me in a super precarious situation. Since I have a wide circle of friends, I tend to know a lot, about a lot of people. 


This is not something I'm proud of, but sometimes I will share information with friends. Either way, I have decided to stop gossiping for one month (and hopefully for good!) I am posting this here, to keep me accountable. I have always been pretty good at keeping promises because I am very stubborn, but I also wanted to share with you guys my reasoning. 


Recently a close friend of mine chose to not share something with me, because as she said, I have a big mouth. That upset me. But it's true and she's probably the first person who has ever been so blunt with me. And it made me think: I would rather be the person my friends can confide in, than the person who always has the latest gossip. 

It's been 4 days now and I haven't gossiped. It may sound immature or childish to you; after all, there are way bigger issues in life than my gossiping. But I am a firm believer in the fact that we should never stop challenging ourselves and growing. I think if there is an aspect of yourself that you don't like so much, you should work on it. Don't just take the easy way out and say, 'this is me'. 


So what exactly qualifies gossiping? Well, the way I see it, if you share something with someone about someone else, for the sole sake of entertainment, that qualifies as gossip. Telling your friends how another friend got into grad school- not gossip. Telling your friends what schools your friend got rejected from and how upset she is- gossip. 


Even though it's only been a few days, I feel so much better. I think there are certain things that we know are wrong, and even if we participate in them willingly, they can end up making us feel bad about ourselves. For example, I used to smoke, and I always felt bad about it. Every single time I smoked, but I used to make excuses for my habit. But that's a story for another time. 


I think part of growing up is becoming more honest with yourself and the person you are, and the person you want to be. And for me, that includes not being the town gossip.