How you helped disarm the troll of fear

You are the best! Thanks for clicking and reading. And extra thanks to those who took the time to post a friendly comment on Facebook!

I was so worried I would mainly receive little notes like: „Wiebke, as your friend/soon-to-unfriend-you-buddy/neighbour I feel the burden of obligation to tell you: stop this nonsense immediately!“

But you didn’t. Instead I was very grateful to find friendly messages of encouragement.

What I learnt from you

That shows a few things:

• I am super lucky to have met very friendly people in my life
• If you talk about your worries and ask for support, support might be given
• In general, many things don’t turn out to be quite as catastrophic as we fear

What I feared

I was so afraid that some awful, bloodthirsty troll would come running at my first post to trample on my tender feelings. To avoid that scary encounter, I chose for years to never write anything in public. Instead of giving it a try (what we tell the kids all the time), I thought it would be safer to hide in my cabin preemptively and keep my head in.

Now it seems, that for the time being, said troll is possibly busy hollering in another forest. I know that sinister characters are lurking out there, beasts and plotters, but why do I grant them this dark power over my choices?

Fortified by your kind feedback, I hope that if he comes running one day, I will be less hurt (true until proven otherwise!). Hopefully, I will then remember that he is not voicing the overall truth and the opinion quietly held by everyone else. I might be able to see it what it might be: one grumpy insult.

Sod off, troll!

So, I will walk with a bouncier step on my outings into the woods of thoughts. I will be happy to take you along if you like.

Thank you, for proving that indeed small gestures like a quick smile and a friendly word are to be found „out there“ and way more common that the scary monsters we imagine in the shadows.

Naturally, I will still need to whistle in the lonely parts of the woods, and I will never venture into the dark basement, but I feel that I now have some very comforting extra matches in my pocket!

I will be happy to share them with you.

Whether you shout, whistle, or only hum, just let me know whenever you need a little help, too!