Thank you to @greatness96 for suggesting this as topic and to everyone who helped me pick between this and another topic for today's post. If you have time please check out @greatness96's page to see what they are all about. If you were one of the people I polled and this was not your pick don't worry. I'll be getting that post very soon!
Forgiveness Defined
The search returns the following:
the action or process of forgiving or being forgiven.
Seems kind of obvious so let's dive a little deeper since that definition does not show us what it means to forgive. We all know when someone wrongs us or someone we love, we become bitter and sometimes take action against said person.
To forgive is letting it go. Moving on like it never happened. Often a person will be sorry for what they did and will want forgiveness, anyway. At other times they won't care.
Even if the person does not want your forgiveness or feels, they are in the right with their actions. It is still a wise choice to forgive that person. This is for your own wellbeing at a much deeper level. Regardless of your adherence to a faith or lack there of. You most likely agree that forgiving a person is the best route to take even if that person is bitter against you.
On one of my favorite lines from Lecrae is in the song "I'll Find You":
Don't get bitter, get better. I'm working on switching them letters.
Bitterness against someone will only make your emotions worse. Chances are the person you are being bitter towards won't care. Their life is detached from yours and they could just walk way, severing the relationship.
So we should get better but what does that mean?
On the surface this means we should become the better person in these types of situations. While that is good it does kind of give off a selfish connotation that could end up backfiring. Instead, I think of it like an illness we are getting better from. Holding on to a grudge will only bring down your quality of life so make the choice to get better from this emotional illness.
Forgiveness On The Internet
The principles and ideas from above apply online. We will get into how this relates to you as blogger and content creator but first lets talk about general forgiveness on the internet. It is easy to come across something online that offends us.
This happens to all of us and some more than others. We need to forgive these individuals even if we never come to agree with them. It's ok to not agree with everything you read online, even this!
While you don't have to be friends with every person who does you wrong online, you need to forgive them. It is just as important as forgiving someone you encounter in person every single day. Be that your spouse, your kids, or parents.
Treat everyone online as if they are someone you will have to see again. This will help you move into forgiveness in a faster span of time. The faster you can forgive the faster you can move on and keep pushing toward your goal in a positive light.
Be it on Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, or whatever the kids are using these days, you have to learn to let go of the bitter emotions. As I mentioned, there will always be something that will offend you. Your ability to let it go and move on to do great things online is crucial. Even just posting that epic cat photo you took twenty minutes ago.
Forgiveness As A Blogger
I write these for people on steem to learn from my decade long experience as a blogger. Hoping you will cut back on the learning curve and be able to make awesome content for the rest of your blogging career. The goal is that you won't have to work for ten years to learn these skills. If I got this advice when I first blogged I would have been ecstatic.
When blogging you are putting yourself out there in a way that most people online don't. Most people share news, cat photos, and the new funny video. As a blogger you are creating something people can gain value from.
You are making the news, the self-help articles, and the evergreen content for people to learn from for years to come. If you are doing it right you are pouring your whole self into a piece. Your most prized reward is when someone tells you they learned from your work or you changed their outlook for the better.
But then there are the others.
Since we are pouring ourselves into our posts and working for hours a day to make the best product possible. When someone comes along and spews hate it can hurt us on some next level business. I know this all to well.
It is worse when creating poetry for me. Poetry is my soul on paper and when someone comes along and bashes the piece it hurts. I'm not talking about criticism that builds us up and makes us better. That can hurt to but it's for the better. What I am talking about here is a digital word attack, and it sucks.
As bloggers and creative writers we need to have thick skin and I can't write a post on how to grow such a skin, who am I kidding, I'll try someday. What I can give you is what we talked about a few paragraphs above. We need to forgive. As we grow our thick skin, the only way to move on and keep pushing is to forgive those that attack or make fun of our work.
If you are new to this whole thing take this and run with it. Find what works best for you. Maybe it's taking deep breaths, or jogging, or praying. Whatever you need to do, do that thing. You will find forgiveness to be the best medicine for the illness of internet grim.
For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you Mat 6:14 KJV
Thanks For Reading!
Thanks for reading my take on forgiveness and how I relate it to blogging. If you have any futher advice please share! Also be sure to comment any topic you would like to see covered in this series!
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