Finding out that you are the brunt of someone’s gossiping is never fun. It can give your confidence a knock and leave you feeling hurt and rejected. Especially if it is spread by someone you thought was a good friend. Unfortunately you cant control what people do, but you can decide how you respond to it. Here are 6 ways to brush off gossip and restore your confidence.
1. Do nothing
One of the first things you have to acknowledge and understand is that there's nothing you can do. You may be able to silence or convince one person who talks about you when you're not listening. But how many people in the world are you going to try to convince? No matter what you do and how good you are at anything in life, there will be people who think otherwise. They will talk behind your back in an attempt to pull you down.
2. Understand that they don't matter
The people who talk behind your back obviously aren’t important in your life. If they really were, they'd be on your side, wouldn't they? Your true happiness lies in the progress and well being of you as an individual and that of your loved ones including family and friends. What everyone else has to say, think or feel does not and should not affect your happiness or state of mind.
3. Smile confidently when you walk past
The biggest blow to anyone gossiping behind your back is the sight of you walking by with a confident smile that says "I know you talk behind my back but I don't care" And if you really want to take this battle a notch up, put some zing into your step and walk as if you are the happiest person in the world when you walk past the people who talk behind your back.
4. Don't feel victimised
As you may have realised by now, a situation when people talk behind your back begins when you have achieved or done something that others are jealous of. All this really points out to only one fact - you are the victor from the very beginning. Play your role of being the victor, celebrate and rejoice about the fact that people find you worth talking about.
5. Build up your own support system
Yes, we all have friends and colleagues who will watch out for us. If you don't, there's no reason to panic because we all have to start somewhere, don't we? Start by being nice to the people around you who really matter. Make a conscious effort to be nice, every single day. This will rub off and you will lay the foundation of having your very own following.
6. Plan your confrontation well
Throwing a fit or over reacting in a situation like this is not going to help your cause. It will only prove the fact that you have been mentally affected by what people are talking about you, behind your back. Be relaxed and most importantly, show that you are unperturbed by the rumours and gossip that's been going around. If you must react or confront to a situation, plan it well. Talk to those responsible behind closed doors so there is no audience.