Audio By Carbonatix
Do people talk about you behind your back? Does it upset you? Do you wonder why they single you out as the subject for their gossip?
I used to. Naturally, the nature of my job brings with it, a lot of attention - some wanted, some not. People are naturally curious and crave information. The slightest suggestion that someone has some as yet unknown detail about a well-known person's life will cause all who thirst for knowledge to swarm upon the source of the advertised filla like crocodiles around a frantically paddling duck.
As the person being gossiped about, it can be quite traumatic to learn what is being said about you. I recently walked into the waiting area at a media event. There were three men standing together talking and laughing. As I swivelled round on the spot, looking for the washrooms, I suddenly heard my name. Assuming one of the men had called me, I turned to them with a smile, ready to say "hello" to whoever it was, but I realised they were still in a huddle. Of course, I immediately realised they were talking about me. I was curious, so I froze in my tracks and strained to listen.
"...doesn't even write his own script", one of them said, which was immediately met by, "but how can you write your own script when you don't…"
And then they saw me. After a lot of throat-clearing and feet-shuffling, they all walked in different directions and that was that.
My first instinct was outrage, at the thought of people I don't know, saying untrue things about me behind my back. But then I started to see an amusing side to all this. I had just come out of a room full of journalists and chanced across this meeting, where they weren't talking about any other journalist in Ghana, but me. I must be doing well, I thought to myself.
This is the aspect of the unpleasant experience of being the subject of gossip, that most people forget. People are only interested in things that matter, so if someone is talking about you, you matter!
Don't be disheartened by the rumours that float around about you. You will never please everyone you meet. No matter how well you do in life, how humble and honest, and caring and kind you are as a person, there will always be someone somewhere who doesn't like you. Never try to please them all. Stay true to your path, and keep doing what you do best. Those who matter to you, already know every amazing detail of who you are, and nobody else counts, so let them talk.
My name is Kojo Yankson, and If you can't handle people talking about you today, you can never handle success tomorrow?
GOOD MORNING, GHANAFO!
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