The Best Ways To Deal With A Friend Who Wants To Gossip

Most of us find ourselves with a friend who loves to gossip from time to time in our lives.  It may be someone we really love that has this one bad trait or just a casual friend they run into from time to time.  Either way, a friend that loves to gossip can pose problems.  Maybe you don’t want to take part in the gossip because it violates your moral convictions or you feel close to the person they are gossiping about.

If the friend that loves to gossip isn’t someone you are particularly close to, it can be beneficial to put a bit more distance between you.  If you aren’t around them, then you don’t have to hear all the gossip they are sharing or feel like you are getting pulled into it.

You can also try acting disinterested when the subject changes to gossip.  Their enthusiasm for sharing the scoop may wane when they find out they don’t have a captive audience.

Changing the subject is another tactic you can try.  Go neutral and ask your friend if they have read a popular bestseller or what they think about the newest trend in eye makeup.  It doesn’t really matter what you change the subject to, the point is you are stopping the gossip in its tracks without offending your friend.

If none of these tactics work, you may have to tell your friend that you don’t really want to hear the latest gossip.  Explain that it makes you feel badly to talk about others and it is a habit you try to avoid taking part in.  You can explain how much you love your friendship if the two of you are close and you would love to hear about anything else going on in their life. A true friend will understand.

Comments

Leave a Reply

Loading…

0