I recently told my husband I was discouraged in the face of negative comments on my blog. Really, it was just one comment, but it's still something I think a person never gets used to. It's difficult when a person who obviously knows you somewhat is discouraging behind the veil of anonymity.
My husband sometimes just understands what I need to hear. Not what I want to hear, but what's best for me to hear. He said "the whole point of this blog was to open dialogue that isn't easy to open. It's to have discussions about topics that are personal and that in the past haven't been talked about. That's exactly what you've done here, you've opened discussion, and people are debating both sides."
It was a humbling reminder that I can't expect everyone to agree with me. Whether it's about money, or my family's personal decisions, if I'm putting it out there, I need to be brave enough to deal with differing points of view.
My life would be really boring if everyone around me had the same opinions I did.
4 comments:
Hey Aly, I have your blog RSS'd :)
I can't weigh in much on family budgeting but I can def weigh in on negativity. It sounds like your husband already gave you the best advice, and furthermore it sounds like you understand you have to 'brave it out'.
You should be flattered that you're provoking such strong emotions from people, even if they are negative. It proves you're onto something.
In the music industry negative comments happen all the time. Whether that's behind my back, literally to my face, heckled from a distance, or spammed online.
Same concept, be confident in yourself and brave it out. Understand the comment as either articulate or low-brow. That way you can either shrug your shoulders (low-brow) and move on - or analyze yourself and maybe change (articulate).
No worries. Being yourself and doing what you love regardless of what others think is the bottom line :)
-Jamie
Jamie-were you always such an encourager??
I definitly see the music industry as one of those things that would give you a thick skin and a choice-either letting it be constructive or letting it get to you.
(Of course there are those low brow ones like you said, and there's not too many ways to make them constructive.)
I hope you're spreading this positivity in the musical work you're doing-you must be a refreshing change to people around you. :)
Cheers,
Ally
I wish I could tell you that you will get thick skinned enough to have hateful or negative comments on here but I never have. My blog has always been a kind of raw thing that I used to let anyone post on, but now I approve them first. I also like to be sure that the people commenting were truly friends.
I guess what I'm saying is, in a perfect world people would say things on your blog they would say in personal conversation. But I can say fer sure that people are much more heartless behind a keyboard. Block em or delete em.
Keep smiling.
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