I am definately an Ostrich! I hate confrontation. Ironically, it was my desire to avoid confrontation that caused the person who spread the rumour to fall out with me!
I have gradually found that I trusted certain individuals enough to talk about what was going on but I am definintely very cautious about who I talk to about these things. I met one performer (who I now know is very good friends with this person) who kept asking me for information about why we fell out. She may have just been making conversation but I got a distinct feeling that she was trying to find out what line I was taking on the issue of the rumour and what I was telling people about it (possibly to relay back to its originator). I decided to play dumb and gave her minimal information. 'We were friends, we fell out, I think I could have handled X better, I think she took it that way' and left it at that, acting as though I didn't know anything about any rumours. I feel like I dodged a bullet there because if I had mentioned about this rumour it would probably have got back to her and would only have made things worse.
In my mind I think I would like to be someone who discreetly confronts the person causing the problem head-on but I know I am not assertive and robust enough to do that in general and in that specific situation I definitely could not have done as I always found that this person was someone I could not say no to, let alone argue/assert myself with.
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