Telephone Game, Tangled Story

Do you remember playing the old Telephone game? Whispering a secret into the ear of the sleep-over friend and watching them giggle as they whispered it again to the next person.

Do you remember how hilarious, frightening or downright mean the words that emerged at the end of the telling could be? And still we do it. Even in our adult, grown-up bodies.

We tell stories to ourselves in order to make sense of the things around us. We hear things which we sometimes cannot believe, anything from someone's supposed affair, who got promoted, or about some tragic accident, and we repeat the story. It doesn't matter how accurate the facts are, it's the "story" we are enjoying.

Sometimes we tell these stories to be the center of attention,"guess what I heard?", but most often it is because we want someone else's feedback. We don't want to make a decision about it ourselves, we want someone else to share the blame with.

We all know someone who is a constant source of every tragic event, perceived insult, and is filled with negative foreboding. They steal your time and your energy. Perhaps, they might have been sitting at the end of that Telephone game.

Let's aim to stop the story. Let's put an end to listening and supporting someone else's version of the truth. Because sometimes a compass is not enough to get out of a tangled mess.

Because sometimes a compass is not enough to get out of a tangled mess. (Click to Tweet)