I love to talk. If you’ve ever met me, you know that I love love love to talk. It’s a family trait. We learn to speak early; we master complete sentences fast; we incorporate sarcasm seamlessly (at four years old, I think). We love to talk. And we’re very loud when we do it. A family conversation can dominate an entire restaurant, whether we meant to do that or not. (We are that annoying family.)
And, yes, that means I love to gossip. I love to dish and tell and hear the inside scoop (was that mixing metaphors?). I love to know what’s going on. I love to find out the back story, the parts that don’t make it to the public. I enjoying being on the inside, knowing what fueled this or that event. I enjoy knowing that I know things others don’t.
Is it any surprise I work in public relations?
But I can keep a secret. I rarely choose to keep them, especially for myself, but I can. In spite of all the words that come tumbling out of me, some that make sense and some that don’t, written and verbal… I don’t tell everyone everything.
Keeping secrets, holding onto knowledge (especially “hot stuff”) is harder than you think. Keeping confidential information confidential is an essential part of what I do, but I watch others fail at it frequently. I’ve seen people literally blurt out something they were asked to keep to themselves. It’s almost as if the mere act of asking them to hold onto that piece of information makes it too heavy, or too important, to keep. It’s sometimes amusing to watch some people as they try not to stumble into the topic they were asked to avoid.
Can you keep a secret?
***** Written on my ipad. I promise to proof and edit it later (maybe). ******