These are my thoughts about Rule 9 from Jordan B. Peterson’s “40 Rules”. You can read them all here. In the case of the rules that made it into his “12 Rules for Life” book, I’m not going to repeat any of his explanations here. These are my own thoughts about each rule from my own life and experience.

9. Be careful who you share good news with.

Not everyone has your best interests in mind. Generally, people are concerned about themselves, their families, their businesses, their careers, their health, their finances.

This doesn’t make them evil or heartless. Human beings are inherently selfish which is, in general, how they stay alive.

Some people are going to be genuinely thrilled for you if you share good news with them. But these people are rare even if, on the surface, it seems like a lot of people are happy for you.

Most people will congratulate you and then get on with their lives. The congratulations are more of a social reaction or tradition rather than their real feelings. These people will feel good for you, even for just a moment, but then your situation is forgotten as they get back to their own lives and concerns.

But be careful of those few who will congratulate you like the rest, maybe even more than the rest, but who resent your good news (whether that’s good fortune or success) and who may try to use this information against you or sabotage this positive thing in your life.

Generally, I keep my mouth shut and share very little about my own personal life with anyone except proven close friends and family. Especially in today’s world where social media has had a massive impact on how people share things (both good and bad), blabbing about anything and everything that’s happening in your life can have devastating consequences.

Better to keep things to yourself and the people you know you can trust.