We all have them at some point and they are a nuisance. In extreme cases, trolls can become dangerous, stalking and trying to harm the people that they’re trolling. That’s not who I’m going to refer to here. What I’m going to address are the run of the mill idiots who do nothing but try to bring you down a notch. The ones who seemingly have nothing better to do than pick at you, your work, your creativity, your lifestyle.

I recently had a guy that I barely knew in high school, scrolling my posts about Tarot and Astrology. He took real offense to what I was posting. He commented that I was full of shit, and selling snake oil (mind you, there was nothing for sale). I told him he was welcome to unfollow, or scroll past and he told me that I knew him well enough to know he wouldn’t leave me alone (I don’t know him well enough to know anything like that). So, I promptly blocked him (boundaries) – I’m not interested in fighting with him. I don’t want to waste my energy on anything like that. If I’m not your cup of tea, that’s ok. What’s not ok is to attack people. But I digress.

What’s the Lesson Here?

After I blocked him, I started to think about what I could learn from this (I’m in a serious introspection phase) and it didn’t take long for me to see the benefit of that particular interaction. I watched the video again, that seemed to offend the troll, deeply and I couldn’t really find a reason. Probably his religion doesn’t allow him to be open to things like this, but I really don’t know. Was my video adding to the conversation regarding Tarot and Astrology? Was I saying something that had value? I believe it was and I had. If nothing else, this confirmed that I believed in what I said in the video and was willing and able to defend it. Honestly? I consider that a gift from the troll.

As an aside, it also confirmed that I was right to move away. ?