How gossip affected people’s lives in during the time of the Bronte sisters, Lord Byron, and Shelley? What does this have to do with my recovery journey? Simply that what goes in my eyes and ears affects my recovery or harms it. I’ve been reading about Lord Byron’s life and so he comes up lately in my daily morning pages that I scribble when I wake up. His inability to stand up for himself was irritating me so much that I had to put the book aside for a day before I calmed down enough to continue reading. He let public opinion and how he was supposed to act toward women make his choices. His inability to stand up for himself made me angry. I could see that he was unconscious of how his actions and in-actions caused his catastrophes and powerless to do anything about it.