I’ve
been out of town and am woefully behind on my #NHBPM posts. I’m attempting to catch up today. The prompt for day 14 is: Advice for dealing
with negative feedback in your community.
The
Diabetes Online Community (DOC) is a wonderful place filled with cupcakes and
glitter-sprinkled unicorns. Never is a
negative word heard. Well maybe there are some times when people get a tad
negative. The people always get
along! Hmmm, there can be disagreements
now and then. We’re all in the same boat
and we always paddle in the same direction! Yeah, well, not exactly. Ok, ok, the DOC is just like any other
community. We all have something in
common (diabetes), we all feel strongly about it and we all have different ways
of dealing with it, both mentally and in our care routines.
When you
put yourself out there in a blog or make comments in an online forum, it’s
ridiculous to think that you will never receive negative feedback. People are unique in that we have a brain
that allows us to think for ourselves.
We develop our own ideas and thoughts about events, politics, religion
and health, to name just a few. If we
all thought the same way about things it would certainly make for less strife,
but it would be a tad boring, don’t you think?
I think it’s imperative to have an open dialog about our health. I know that I’ve learned some valuable
lessons from things others have said online.
For instance, I found that I am able to modify my diet in ways I never
thought possible. That wouldn’t have
happened without reading someone else’s thoughts on that subject, and even
though I completely disagreed with them at the time, it planted a seed that
eventually grew into something useful to me.
Everyone
is entitled to their opinion. Some
people are completely rude when sharing their opinions while others are able to
have a respectful dialog. My best advice
for dealing with jerks who disagree with you is to let them think what they
like. You don’t have to engage with them
and you certainly don’t need to try and change their minds; that’s not going to
happen! Most of all don’t let the
turkeys get you down. Don’t let
naysayers and negative nellies keep you from speaking your mind. Everyone’s ideas and opinions have value and
I think it’s healthy for us to be exposed to a variety of viewpoints. It’s not all cupcakes and unicorns.
Yep, well said, Kate! I like to think that everyone works pretty hard to make it a welcoming, loving, and supportive community. But like you said, any large group will have it's disagreements.
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