Living Vicariously Through Gossip

If you're going to gossip about me make it interesting and juicy because I live vicariously through it :). Apparently, I live quite a full life according to the gossip.  Now, of course, this doesn't mean that I don't take the time to correct the gossip to people who matter in my life because I do.  The keyword is that they have to matter to me, and vice versa. It's just that as I get older I am more amused  by gossip than I was when I was younger.  It's quite creative what some people's minds can come up with in spite of evidence to the contrary.  I've come to the point in my life where gossip, and other people's opinions of me are taking a back seat. This is in line with what researchers say about the different stages of life that we go through.  At around age 40, we stop worrying about what other people think about us because we're tired of it. 


I absolutely adore people who enjoy life, whatever that means for them. For instance,  there's a beauty to seeing an avid reader getting into a good book, hearing the boisterous laugh of the social butterfly, or joining in the wild giggles and cackles after somebody tells a juicy dirty joke. "Just be yourself" - you know, the advice that your parents gave to you when you were a teenager. The very words that as teenagers we would roll our eyes at because we didn't fully comprehend the deep meaning behind it. "Just be yourself" are some of the wisest words ever spoken.  I'm not advocating that people run a muck and break every social taboo going.  I'm just encouraging people to be themselves, whatever that is for them.

I'm leaving you with a quote from one of my favourite Nigerian writers, Ngugi wa Thiong'o, "Belief in yourself is more important than endless worries of what others think of you. Value yourself and others will value you.Validation is best that comes from within.” When I read those words from his autobiography they really touched my heart. It sums up everything - confidence, self-love, and of course, being yourself.