The Challenge: A Gossip Free Week

Hearsay - unverified, unofficial information gained or acquired from another and not part of one's direct knowledge.

I am going to admit it; I nearly gave into temptation this past week. Someone upset me and I formed a conclusion based on what I saw. Now, I forced myself not to speak the words out loud, but the urge was quite extreme to start gossiping. In fact, at one point I even had to put my duct tape “No-No” sign over my mouth to help remind me not to speak.

However, alas, karma still came around to kick my ass. The gossip gods paid me a visit this week and stole my voice away for even thinking such nasty thoughts. Now I sit here on day two of what I assume is laryngitis, just waiting to see how long it takes the vocals to return to full strength.

In my day of, for the most part, silence, (I mean, I can’t shut up completely, that is just too difficult), I found an interesting site for all to check out this week. So begins my challenge to you.

I have heard tell of professors assigning their classes with a 24-hour period of no technology, so here is a new assignment, should you choose to accept it, no gossiping for an entire week. As the author of the article says, the rules are simple:

1.  No talking about people who are not present, positively or negatively; they’re not present to defend themselves either way.

Seems basic enough: go an entire week without speaking about other people. Nope, that sounds painstakingly hard, but let’s do it anyway. I would like it if the followers of this blog would join me in this mission.

This means, no speaking, no posting on Facebook, no tweeting, no repeating what you have heard or read, and no excuses. I myself am going to try to hold myself accountable on this front in some fashion. Whether it be by a penalty jar or something along those lines. I might have to get creative. To avoid being accused of cheating, this week will not only start once I post this blog, but I will lengthen it to however long it takes for me to get my voice back.

If you are willing to join me, please leave a comment below to let me know and to give the rest of us a status update as to how you are doing on this quest.

Something light hearted for the day:

Not feeling so hot today, I thought I might like to reveal a less ego-crushing rumor this go around. It is actually one of my favorite and funny rumors that has been told at my wonderful work atmosphere.

A few years ago, I found myself unhappy with my weight and decided to join Weight Watchers. It was an excellent program and I managed to maintain a weight loss of about one to two pounds a week. During this time, as was expected, my body began to shrink proportionally, of course.

As any woman would know how weight loss effects a woman, perhaps we should have made sure to explain it to the opposite sex.

While I was enjoying shedding the pounds I didn’t realize that others were taking notice in other ways. One day a coworker came up to me and asked me how my surgery had gone. Now, this is a person who saw me every day and was, I thought, a close enough friend that she would know what was going on in my life.

I was confused by the question of an unknown surgery, so I asked her to clarify. As it turns out, one of the male dominated departments in my building was all a-buzz with the talk of me having had breast reduction surgery. According to the chitchat, I had been unhappy with my cup size and decided to take it down a notch.

If I could have literally laughed my ass off, I think I might have, and forgone the next several months of weight loss. 

This video explains how I wish I could have reacted to this hogwash tale. Unfortunately, I was at work and had to maintain a professional persona. I would have loved to have pulled this off, in fact, there are still days where I honestly consider dressing to the part that my coworkers have placed me in.

Good luck with your missions this week. Something tells me I will be humming this song all week.

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Lady Chattergirl out …