1- Communicate about what is going on. Rumors can spread if someone is very secretive about their life or isn't in constant communication with others. You don't have to tell everyone you meet what is going on in your life, but to prevent rumors it can be helpful to tell some people how you are doing and what is happening. Then, when a rumor gets spread it may be harder to believe because people know what is truly happening in your life.

• Stay in touch with your close friends, coworkers, and family. Keep them up to date on your life and ask them about theirs. When someone begins to pull away from people and becomes distant, rumors can be spread more easily. People can get upset if they feel like someone isn't putting in the effort to spend time with them and they can create rumors just from that. Or, if you look distant, people can start to create ideas that you are forlorn, depressed, or unsociable and can spread rumors about your emotional state.

2- Be open and honest with people. This goes hand in hand with communication, but it involves really being honest and open with people, even when things are hard. Many people, when struggling with difficult things either at home, at school, or at work, can begin to pull away from people and become stressed and distrusting. The best way to avoid rumors when you are experiencing these things is to be vulnerable with a few people around you.

• Explain that things are hard or you are unsure about some things, and those around you will hopefully be understanding and sympathetic.
• Another reason to be open and honest with people is it helps create a space where they feel it's safe to be open and honest with you. If you share information with people they are more likely to share information back. Then, they are less likely to spread rumors about you because they know you have information on them.
• At the same time, you want to be careful about who you share intimidate details of your life with. If you know it is someone you can trust, then be open and honest with them so that they know what is truly going on in your life. If it is someone you are not sure about, still try to be honest with them, but don't reveal secrets that they may twist into something that isn't true. Some people will take honesty and vulnerability and use it for harm, as awful as that is.

3- Treat people kindly. Not all rumors start from your close friends or family. Many start from people that don't know you well and so it's easy for them to make up lies about you. This is why it's important to treat all people kindly. The kinder you are to people, the less likely they will be to react out of malice and try to harm your reputation. Even people that are difficult to treat well, you should strive to at least be kind to them.

• Some people spread rumors about people they don't know well because they feel those people have treated them poorly, even if that person didn't intend to. You can't always prevent this, but being kind to someone decreases your chance that they are going to target you as their source for a rumor.
• If you are experiencing rumors in a workplace, encourage cooperation over competition. Building an environment where you treat your coworkers as a team and a family is going to make people feel more comfortable and welcomed, and hopefully they won't feel a need to spread unnecessary rumors about others.

4- Avoid spreading rumors yourself. Don't spread rumors. It's just that simple. If you spread rumors yourself and contribute to hurting other people and harming their reputation you are more likely to have a rumor spread about you. You also have placed yourself in a position where you can't exactly find fault with others if they spread a rumor about you. If you do the same thing with others, then you are no better than someone who has spread a rumor about you.

• If information is told to you and it seems harmful or like it could hurt someone's reputation, keep it to yourself. Even if you don't think it is harmful, but you aren't sure of its accuracy, don't spread the information. Unless you are confident that the information is true and the person it is about won't experience harm from it, then don't tell others about it.

5- Be clear about what you are sharing. If you are sharing something in confidence with someone and don't want others to know, make sure that person understands. Some people will share what other people have told them, not out of malice, but because they saw no harm in it. If you want to keep something private, communicate that to the person you are talking with.

• Doing this will keep your friend from sharing your private information with someone else who may share it with someone else incorrectly. It is like the game of telephone -- you start off with a sentence and after it has been passed between several people the meaning changes. To prevent this from happening, be clear with your friend that you want this information to stay between the two of you.