Here’s How to Deal With Gossip At Work After Divorce

Divorce brings radical changes to your routine life and mental health. You need to be prepared to face and cope with them so that you will not get ruined the things you are left with after the split. Either you do a cheap divorce online or go through the full-stiffed divorce process with a family law attorney, it will have a crucial impact on your life processes.

Work is a place where you spend more than half of your routine life, so it is obvious that you won’t be able to keep your divorce and work apart. This threatens to bring you in the middle of office gossip issues.  And even if you pretend you don’t bother how your colleagues discussing your personal issues at the lunch break, it may have a serious effect on your mental health anyway. So, your primary task is not to try to avoid it but try to cope with office rumors in the way which will preserve your mental health, personal life, and relationships at work at the same time. 

Keep It to Yourself

You may be overloaded with legal divorce forms and other issues that are bursting over the verge but it is up to your interests to keep everything to yourself. Try to share neither news nor details on your divorce process as long as possible. Mind that telling your little secret to one of the colleagues will eventually end up with the whole office dwelling on your divorce details. So, you’d better keep quiet and keep the straight face. If your coworkers happen to notice the changes in your behavior and emotional state, you may answer in general phrases that you are just going through a difficult period and that is enough they need to know. Try to stay polite and distant enough not to offend someone and not let your colleagues in your private life as well. 

Handle Your Emotions

Divorce issues are supplemented with emotions and feelings that are difficult to control. But bursting out in tears in the middle of the workday or storming out at your boss after the difficult court day are certainly the last things you need. So, you should find your own way not to let the emotions go over the brim. 

• Time for yourself – keeping a polite smile on your face throughout the day, when the storm of emotions is happening inside, is not possible even not in terms of divorce. So you need the time on your own to release the tension. Crying in the bathroom from time to time is not the best option. You’d better go out for lunch or take a walk around the office for a couple of minutes to cool off, mentioning a healthy lifestyle as an excuse for your coworkers.
• A shoulder to cry on – you can choose the closest friend at the workplace to disclose some divorce details now and then during the lunch break, but don’t go into many details anyway. The sincere talk to the uninvolved person will help you relax a little bit and if the gossips spread you will know the source at least.
• Professional help – professional mental support will do a lot for you, especially if you are using the diy divorce kit with no divorce specialist by your side. So, you are recommended to visit a therapist for at least a session or two so that you can settle your minds and not let your emotions interrupt your everyday life.

Once you will find your way of dealing with emotions you will have fewer chances to become the object of rumors in the office, so it is in your interests. 

Find the Right Moment to Open the Truth

No matter how well you will handle your behavior and hide the situation, the time will come when the information leaks through the social media or any other source and it will spread around the office with the lightning speed. So, you’d better hurry up to provide relevant information not to let dirty guesses become common wisdom. 

• Talk with your boss – you can tell the boss from the very beginning since you may need excuses for court days. And ask to keep the news private. Or you may only notice that you have some deals with the court skipping the reason and tell the truth only when it’s all over. In any case, you don’t have to go into details.
• Open up to your colleagues – it doesn’t mean you have to make pathetic announcements in front of the whole office. Just tell the news to one or two coworkers and the others will no soon. Don’t forget about keeping certain things private. 

Opening the truth at the right time is a significant step. Since, if you don’t tell the news, your coworkers will invent and share information without your consent, which may have unpleasant results. 

Leave Work Issues at Your Workplace

The plot of interaction between your divorce case and work life may go in different directions. The main thing is that it doesn’t have to become something significant in your life. Surely, you may take a break to settle your thoughts and emotions, but you will still have a chance to go through the gossip wave when you are back. In the end, the office rumors will jump to another topic soon and you will have nothing to be bothered about. The main thing is that you don’t bring work issues home and let it spoil your life. Moreover, you have got more significant issues to worry and care about that some words of distant people.