Heya playa, if you're dealing with rumors and gossip in middle school, you're not alone.
So many kids are spreading rumors just for attention or just trying to get at people
they don't like.
In this video, I want to teach you how to avoid the rumor mill, how to not participate
in that bad behavior and how to deal with rumors that are said about you.
For those of you that are new here, my name is Josh and I make videos sharing tips, ideas
and stories teaching you how to be your best self now if you've ever had a rumor said about
you, it can kind of sting.
Now, it hurts to hear things that aren't true or just things that you've done that you don't
want people to know just out there for everyone to talk about.
The saddest part about rumors is that people don't even try to verify if they're true.
They just kind of accept that they do because everyone else is talking about it which really
isn't a good way to accept things as true.
I remember when I was in middle school, there was a rumor going around about my friend that
he had downloaded the Anarchist Cookbook which is a cookbook on making bombs and things like
that and people thought he was going to be the next Columbine type of person or school
shooter or something of that sort.
Now I heard that rumor about my friend and I knew it wasn't true because this was my
friend and it was just people gossiping.
But later on when we got into an argument with each other, I accused him of the rumor
and said I did believe it, I did think it was true and I thought he was a weirdo.
And that was just not a cool thing for me to do.
Not only did it hurt his feelings because other kids were spreading the rumor, but now
his best friend was partaking in it and that just made him feel even worse.
And it was then that I realized that rumors do nothing but hurt people.
So if you've ever been someone to just pass along a rumor or just spread it because you
don't know if it's true or not, I would recommend you just stay away from it completely.
But, if you're someone on the receiving end of gossip and rumors being said about you,
here's what I think you should do to kind of tackle those situations.
First off, try to discover what the rumor is.
If you just hear that rumors are being said about you, really talk to people and ask them
what is being said you don't feel anxious and nervous thinking everyone is constantly
talking about you all the time.
If it's a rumor that you did something weird, hooked up with someone or anything of that
nature, knowing exactly what people are talking about is going to help you feel calmer because
you know exactly what the actual truth is versus the lie that's being spread by everyone
else.
The next thing you're going to want to do is to talk to your closest friends about that
rumor.
Now your friend's opinions are usually the ones you hold in highest regard, more so than
random strangers so if you can get your friends on board with what the truth is, and they
can be on your side to support you it makes it easier for them to also squash the rumors
as they hear it from other people.
Instead of you just going out there to tell people to stop spreading it, your friends
can have your back.
If they hear people in class, in the hallway, after school, on the bus, anywhere talking
about you in a negative way, they can intervene and say hey, that's not true, stop saying
that.
Now I know the opinions of others do matter here.
I'm not gonna sit here and pretend like you don't care what your classmates think, you
probably do.
You want to have a positive image in front of everyone but if there are rumors being
spread to people you don't know, there isn't much you can do about that.
You're just gonna have to accept it and move on.
The next thing you may want to do here is if you find out who is spreading that rumor,
confront them.
Don't confront them in a way that you're going to beat them up or attack them, just ask them
why they're spreading it.
Now chances are they're not gonna tell you "Well I'm saying this because I don't like
you or I'm saying this because you were mean to me", they're gonna come up with some other
reason or they're gonna ignore you", but, confront them and at least try to get a real
answer from them.
A lot of times when you approach people with genuine kindness to try to do the right thing,
their moral conscious kicks in and makes them realize "ok, maybe I'll stop doing this bad
thing, I'm not gonna pretend and play along and do the good thing but I'm gonna stop doing
the bad thing" which may be the most that you can get them to do.
Now you may run into situations where people spread rumors out of anger or jealousy or
because you rejected them, the best thing to do is to try to have a real conversation
with them.
See where they're coming from.
See where their anger lies and hopefully, in talking to them, you can help defuse it
a little bit.
And I know, it sounds all sunshine and rainbows, that strategy isn't going to work with everyone
some people are just gonna outright be mean and there isn't anything you can do about
it other than just accept it.
But overall, I think what you really need to learn from this experience is that no matter
what other people think in middle school, their opinions don't define your self-worth.
Just because someone calls you a weirdo, or lame, or a slut, or a loser or any of these
things, that's their opinions, they define it based on their experiences and their life.
You are defined by your experiences in your life, what you bring to the table.
Not what anyone else thinks you do.
And just to keep it real, rumors suck.
It sucks to have something said about you that's negative and you have no control over.
Just feeling a victim to that behavior is a horrible feeling to have.
But as long as you remember that no one else defines your path, that's something that you
exclusively do.
I think you'll be able to get through any rumors that come your way.
But now I want to know, what do you think?
What kind of rumors have you heard said in Middle School?
Are their rumors about you, about your friends, about other people?
Leave your comments down below and we'll talk about it.
Thank you so much for watching.
If you enjoyed the video, hit the thumbs up button but the learning doesn't end here.
Tap on the playlist right there on the screen to continue learning more about middle school,
different middle school situations you may encounter, how to navigate them and overall
how to just survive middle school in general.
On that note guys, I'll catch you next week.
As always, love and peace.