05.02.07 The 5th Consequence of Participating in Negative Gossip

5. Stress Triggers

Despite the fact that some people use negative gossip to entertain themselves, the outcomes can be quite stressful. Miriam for instance, must have been overly stressed by God’s punishment given that she was condemned to total isolation outside the camp. She could have wondered what would happen in case she did not get healed and whether she would be able to handle the associated discrimination. Would the disease leave any scars on her body to remind everyone about the gossiper she was? These thoughts could have rung in her ears for hours, leading to high levels of stress.

Being confronted by the victims of your gossip can also trigger stress; such as what happened to Lulu at JuaLink the day Faraja quizzed her about the abortion allegations that she had publicised all over the Agency’s corridors.

Another common stressor is the negative energy that gossip always generates as a result of polluting your mind with ‘mean-spirited’ talk against people. Believe it or not, such conversations can psychologically dampen the mood of a gossiper and that of listeners, which is a common precursor to stress.

Moreover, not only does negative gossip stress the gossiper, but it generates verbal venom that could poison hearers thereby stressing them in the process. For instance, you may recall how Lulu secretly recorded Faraja’s and Neema’s comments about Edisa Kitchens, in the JuaLink story. Notice that before Lulu shared Faraja’s and Neema’s responses to Obed, the human resource officer had nothing against the two women. But after that, we saw Lulu’s potent toxin working when a stressed Obed concocted a story, then run to the board chairman, swearing to kick up hell for Faraja and Neema.

Stress could arise from an old adage which says: you reap what you sow. For instance, while your rumours are stressing some victims, your gossip-mates could also be making you the ‘topic of discussion’ the minute you turn your back. Thus, you can imagine how traumatic you may feel, if you were to discover that your so-called ‘friends’ have been backbiting you! As you may recall, Lulu went through such an experience. Further, she must have been stressed after learning that it was her workmates that had secretly informed the new board about her gossiping habits and the appalling effect that it had rendered on JuaLink’s performance.

Related to that is the stress from the guilt that you could feel should your rumours ruin the life of victims; or even drive those people into depression, suicidal thoughts or any other fatalities. To make matters worse, a community could ostracise you should they find that you are responsible for the plight of those victims.

Last but not least, gossip can generate stress through breeding anger in relationships in the workforce, team or community; with adverse effects on productivity and performance in general. No wonder Proverbs 25:23 says that (NLT): ²³ ...a gossiping tongue causes anger!