This is the longest post I have written in months, matters of the heart are deep indeed…..
With all the drama that happened last week with Azealia Banks’s Twitter rant, and her account being suspended following her racist attack on Zayn Malik, we can all feel the negativity that blogging and social media creates. Anyone can be a troll or keyboard warrior as long as you have WIFI connection and a reason to be upset about someone or something. I had my fair share of social media drama last week as well. This was from a keyboard warrior trying to talk down a specific post I wrote some weeks ago, and I didn’t take it kindly at all.
If you know me well enough, you will know I am no push over, I won’t be put in a corner or spoken to rudely by ANYONE, and I always ensure I am polite and nice to everyone I meet both online and offline, because the world and internet, especially the blogosphere, is a small freaking place, our paths will surely cross again, so it pays to be good to all. Having said that, I am sick and tired of having to deal with annoying people who think for whatever reason, they are better than you and can speak down to you. I believe in the motto – ‘people treat you how you let them treat you’, so once I find you are out of line speaking with me, I call you right out on it. I am too old for games, and I have zero tolerance for people thinking they can get away with treating others anyhow they choose just because they assume they are in position of authority. Are we back in the dark ages?
The thing about blogging is whenever you publish a post, everyone has access to it, unless you set it as private, which kind of defeats the objective of running a blog in the first place. Once your post is live, everyone will be able to give their own 2 cents, which is fine. That is the whole idea of blogging, it opens up a conversation, and I have no problems having a conversation and taking constructive criticism, but when it feels malicious and defamatory, I have a major issue, and I won’t take that from anyone. I have been blogging for almost 4 years, and I have come across all sorts of trolls, and comments, you would think I will be 100% thick-skinned by now, but that is far from the truth. I am thick-skinned but some rude comments still piss me off, I am only human at the end of the day.
When I take my time to write and share blog posts, that will hopefully inform or inspire someone, I do that with no cruel intentions. many of my blogs posts are not sponsored, so it is me doing what I love regardless of whether I get paid or not, and to think someone would talk my post down in a group, for his own selfish interests, and for others to see nothing wrong with it or properly too scared to speak up worries me. I have moved past the issue and taken myself out of the situation but I thought writing about it will help take it off my mind completely, because I was so pissed. I also have over 28,000 people following this blog, many of them are bloggers, and they may be going through similar issues, so I thought writing about my issue will help others.
I have no time or energy for online drama. I am too busy with what I have going on that I cannot afford to be distracted, so going forward, here are the ways I will be dealing with online negativity:
Keep Being Me
I will keep being me and I won’t apologise for being myself. I know my worth and I know what I am good at, and I know many are jealous and feel threatened by it but I won’t let that stop me. I love to blog, I am a social butterfly online, so you will probably find me chatting away on Twitter or in a Facebook Group. I have discovered so many cool groups on Facebook this week, I will be sharing the best ones in another post.
Use the Block/Mute Button
I have blocked a few people on social media now and I love the fact that I can. I don’t have to see annoying people on my timeline, and it feels liberating. Do not be afraid of using the Block/Mute button, it saves your sanity sometimes.
Spreading Positive Vibes
There are so many people full of drama, so it is normal to meet some of them online. I believe in spreading positive vibes whenever I can, because I strongly believe in the law of Karma. I believe you get what you put out there, so I send positive vibes and hope to get positive vibes back. No time for negativity here.
Keep Helping People
When I first started blogging, I was clueless. I didn’t know how to go about it so I reached out to a few established bloggers and they responded with very helpful advice. Almost 4 years after, I haven’t forgotten will never forget how helpful they were, and that is why I will keep helping people anyway I can. I receive loads of emails from bloggers and I reply every one of them, so feel free to email me (email should be on the bio on the right) or Tweet me – @fashstylepol with whatever questions you may have, I will try my best to answer them.
My Book – How to Cash In as a Blogger is also filled with helpful advice, so go download a sample and read for yourself. Also, I know quite a few of my readers have downloaded the book already, but have not left me a review. Can you please leave me a review when you are done reading. I really would appreciate that.
Avoid Drama
I try my best to avoid drama but sometimes drama still finds me like it did last week, which sucks. So I am going to try harder. It is so not worth it at all.
Keep Loving and Believing in Myself
Loving and believing in myself is the most important tip I will be following. When I started this blog, I didn’t think anyone (except my family and friends) will be reading it. Now when I look back to how I started and where I am today, I know for a fact that the sky is only the starting point. The beauty about loving yourself is that you don’t need anyone to accept you, and you don’t need their validation either. Being madly in love with yourself is all you need sometimes.
How do you deal with online negativity? Let’s talk, drop me a comment below.
Thanks for reading and have a lovely week ahead.
