I'm always grateful for the positive feedback I get on my social media platforms, Apple podcast reviews and Spotify reviews. Even the ones with constructive criticism. I always take it on board, that's how you learn after all ! People are generally lovely, supportive and encouraging. And I really appreciate that.
Then you wake one morning. Check your socials and "hey presto" .... The mean guy/girl strikes !!!
And immediately you think to yourself.......This review is not constructive, it's not helping anyone in anyway. It's cutting, personal and unnecessary. It's just plain mean and vindictive. It's a personal attack usually to do with my accent, how I pronounce words etc. Why? It's my accent. No one can help how they speak. And NOBODY is forcing you to listen, I say !!
The first time it happened it upset me and I wrote to Apple and they deemed it offensive and took it down. What makes it worse on sites like Apple and Spotify is you can't reply to this mean person. Are we not all entitled to a right to reply? You just have to suck it up. But as I thought about it more I decided.... I don't actually want to reply to them because to me..... They mean nothing, they are nobodies.
Then I started to think about what kind of person actually takes time out of their day to sit there and write such offensive words to someone they probably don't even know? And I concluded it can only be one type of person. A bitter, sad, angry person who probably has very little going on in their own lives so feels it's appropriate to be mean to someone who is actually trying to do something positive with theirs.
And it's not just me obviously that this has happened too. Anyone that puts themselves out there will at one time or another have to deal with these pesky comments. So, if you are one of those people, this is what I'll say.
Think of all the fabulous messages and reviews you have got since you started whatever it is you are doing. I'm sure they far outweigh the mean ones. In my case they very much do !! This is what you focus on. They are who is important. They are your supporters. I decided ages ago not to even engage with these sad, miserable people who try and bring you down. I just focus on the positive stuff and keep going. I can't change my accent. It was an accident of birth, as it is for everyone. 99.9999% of people who have listened to me are lovely, decent people so I'm not going to give the microscopic percentages who feel the need to be cutting and just plain rude a second thought. My only thought now when I read their comment is pity.
So if you are reading this and have experienced something similar and I'm sure you have at some stage in your life. Just don't give this person any of your energy. Feel pity for them like I do and move on with your day.
They are ultimately the ones with the problem and probably a miserable life too, not you.
So keep doing what you're doing, Let it be your motivator to keep going and smashing whatever it is you're doing. I'm sure you are as brilliant as your supporters tell you you are.
Nules
