My First Haters

Well….that was exciting!!

Last week I followed my usual Thursday procedure. I mailed what I wrote to my newsletter list, put it here on my website and then shared the post on my personal page and a few private Facebook groups that I am in.

There was immediately more feedback than usual. The article resonated with many, which was truly heartening, but paled in comparison to what happened next.

The editor of the Fox News Op/Ed page read the article and contacted me asking if they could publish it online.

Ummmmm….

Hell yeah!!! Yes, yes, yes!!

This was exhilarating as I have envisioned myself getting published, but haven’t taken any steps to make it happen. (Law of Attraction post coming soon). And now my writing was not only published, but featured on a huge national news site that receives ten million viewers per week. Wow.

The article hit the site Friday afternoon, trended through the weekend and into this week, before getting knocked out on Tuesday morning after the Iowa caucuses.

The entire experience was wonderful and overwhelmingly positive. Seeing my picture and work on the front page of the Fox News site was completely surreal.

But of course there were haters. And while I am sure there have been plenty of people who have read my posts over the years and disagreed with what I wrote, this was the first time I was in a forum where people are free to express exactly what they think.

Would I be able to handle the feedback?

My youngest daughter was horrified as I laughingly read out loud some of the scathing comments that people left.

Because if there is one thing I know for sure it is this: what others say is about them, how you react is about you.

I feel very passionately about the things I write and have personally experienced and practiced most of it. Because of this and the reports I get back from my clients, I know these methods work and that life feels a whole lot better than it did before using them.

So I didn’t take the harsh comments to heart and was able to read them with curiosity.

Take JimboGDog:

“Sounds like liberal do-gooder nonsense to me. Reading this article is like binge-watching Dr. Phil, it made me want to hurl.”

This really made me laugh. Sorry to make you sick Jimbo. I am definitely liberal, but do-gooder nonsense? So you believe that being a do-gooder is a bad thing?

Or Alyce7:

“So, the author is finally learning to be a liberal, instead of a judgmental conservative who thinks she has all the answers.”

Nope, the author has always been a liberal, showing that neither party has cornered the market on judgmental, self righteous behavior. Which Alyce is also proving by her comment.

Then there was my favorite by stillseekingtruth:

“…but don’t pretend you’ve dropped the smugness, my dear, your self-love oozes through every line.”

This was meant as a derogatory remark. If I was insecure about loving myself or looking selfish in other people’s eyes, it might have really hit home and made me miserable.

As it was, I was actually quite proud and even a bit celebratory that my self love was apparent–even in an article that was about having compassion for others.

I believe that every one of us should ooze self love and that if we did our world would be the Utopia that we all say we want. Teaching people how to love themselves is a huge part of the work that I do.

There were other comments about addiction, religion, parenting, boundaries, who we can help and whether we should.

There was some delicious irony and some commenters even used words from the article back at the commenter who exhibited “bad behavior”. (The article is linked below).

Some opinions were thoughtful, some were off base, some were hateful and some were unintelligible. All par for the course from what I understand.

Overall, I think I got off easy. The article was shared over 3000 times and even if there were some haters, I am thrilled that the different approach made people think.

You can’t have haters or supporters if you aren’t willing to say what you think. And that is something that I am going to keep doing, regardless.

For those that agree and like my approach, I have lots more for you. And for those who don’t, I wish you nothing but happiness on your journey.

If you do agree and would like to stay in touch, please leave your name and email below to join our amazing community.  

Hugs,

Lorna

In order to change your life, you must first change your mind.

Here is the link to the published article on Fox News if you missed it last week or want to read more of the hater comments yourself:

FoxNews Article