Love these! One of mine is “Never judge your curiosity”. If something sparks your interest, it’s not your job to overanalyze it or strategize it to death to see if it will “fit” with your current model of what your creativity “looks like”. Not every creative nudge needs to be followed, but they all deserve to be witnessed without judgment, because deep down, creativity is how we know ourselves and the world. In other words: It’s all allowed. 💙
Yesss omg Jess I could not agree more! We never ever know where those little urges will take us, and if we ask them to justify themselves up front we'll never get to find out! It's so easy to fall into the habit of asking our creativity to pay the bills while refusing to feed it or let it out to play.
I block with a vehemence left and right. Mary Oliver said I have one wild and precious life and I don’t need to spend it trying to convince people not to come into my comment section firing cannons. The policy I use is ‘be kind or get blocked’ and its worked pretty well so far 😉 (I also make hilarious slide shows using screenshots I take of the hate comments to showcase how ridiculous it is and my community has a laugh with me).
The fear is real! But finding the humor in it helps. Even if you screenshot a hate comment just to text to a friend so you can laugh at it together. It kind of deflates all the power out of it. ❤️
I get them all the time! I just usually don't linger on them or talk about them publicly because I don't want to give them the attention they want or any of my precious energy. I see them and block so quickly the virtual ink barely has time to dry 😂
I hear you Jane! I think our innate politeness gets in the way, just as other folks innate not-so-politeness takes over. It can be an exercise in constantly finding our personal boundary and sticking to it, IRL or online.
I go between being terrified nobody will like what I write to expressing my ass off in those moments when I'm throwing all caution to the wind because what I have to say needs to be said! Dammit!
So I probably come off as hopelessly schizo and possibly dangerous, though kindly and old and isn't she sweet?
All this to say I needed this list. (Did I mention I normally hate lists? Especially long ones?) You hit every button and now that they've all been pushed, I'm going to have to check them all again and pay attention.
“T-shirt level of exposure” is going into my vocabulary from now on! 😂❤️ If anyone comes at you Susan you just let me know. I might let people be crappy to me but I am a LIONESS when it comes to all the other kindness potatoes!
Thank you so much for this. As a special pancake magnet - whose instinct is to coddle the pancake, and do whatever they say, and berate myself forever even though I know they’re just a professional dickhead (or having a bad day etc) - I appreciate the reminder that a kindness potato can still mute/block/simply roll away.
First rule of being a kindness potato is being kind to ourselves! ❤️ Amazing how many of us forget that bit. It feels so UNSAFE to have somebody out there hating us, but really it's not. It's way more harmful keeping space for them in our life.
Agree with all of this. Away from Twitter my threads are calmer. I still rant but read everything carefully before submitting. This would be my addition to your list. We are responsible for our own input and must be sure that what we're posting is what we would like to read.
Today my friend showed me the growing collection of wood people she has been painting onto offcuts of wood leftover from a nearby building site. She doesn’t sell anything she makes, she just makes things that feel fun to her, for pleasure while she recuperates from long covid. As someone still heaving the rock of “making is for productivity and purpose and doing” I feel very grateful for the lived example 😌 By which mean, yes, totally agree, taking that with me into 2024.
I so needed this today! I've been going over and over in my head about how I want to do this and then do that...and just do the thing already! I really overthink all the things (which has it's blessings and curses), it's so nice to see that those feelings are valid AND holding me back at the same time. Thank you for putting this out in the world!
This list is gold! I wish I could add more hearts. So much heartfelt goodness here. If only the whole internet could follow these rules we'd be in much better shape.
Brilliant post, Sara. When I joined Threads I regarded it as a fresh start. No being courteous to idiots (not do I confront them - I just ignore/mute). No following back out of politeness. If someone's posts make me cringe or sigh then I mute or unfollow. The stress levels (which I was barely aware of as they had become normal) have dropped dramatically.
I LOVE THIS SO MUCH. This year I've really been leaning into finding my own voice without letting it be influenced by lies I've either been told or told myself, including that my work isn't valuable enough to be paid for, or that no one wants to hear what I have to say. I need this posted on my wall.
Love these! One of mine is “Never judge your curiosity”. If something sparks your interest, it’s not your job to overanalyze it or strategize it to death to see if it will “fit” with your current model of what your creativity “looks like”. Not every creative nudge needs to be followed, but they all deserve to be witnessed without judgment, because deep down, creativity is how we know ourselves and the world. In other words: It’s all allowed. 💙
Yesss omg Jess I could not agree more! We never ever know where those little urges will take us, and if we ask them to justify themselves up front we'll never get to find out! It's so easy to fall into the habit of asking our creativity to pay the bills while refusing to feed it or let it out to play.
Love that idea...not to judge your curiousity...and i would add be discerning as to who you share your buds and seeds of curiousity..they are precious
I love this. i've been doing this, for the second half of this year, and it feels GREAT.
Brilliant. So true.
I block with a vehemence left and right. Mary Oliver said I have one wild and precious life and I don’t need to spend it trying to convince people not to come into my comment section firing cannons. The policy I use is ‘be kind or get blocked’ and its worked pretty well so far 😉 (I also make hilarious slide shows using screenshots I take of the hate comments to showcase how ridiculous it is and my community has a laugh with me).
As someone who is pathologically afraid to use the internet specifically because of mean comments, this is therapy for me 😂🫶
The fear is real! But finding the humor in it helps. Even if you screenshot a hate comment just to text to a friend so you can laugh at it together. It kind of deflates all the power out of it. ❤️
Absolutely. Also, I think just being reminded that other lovely, kind, well meaning people get these comments too is really helpful.
I get them all the time! I just usually don't linger on them or talk about them publicly because I don't want to give them the attention they want or any of my precious energy. I see them and block so quickly the virtual ink barely has time to dry 😂
THERAPY
Be kind or get blocked is so awesome! Thanks for this Breanne💕
This feels very empowering for me, it makes me think, why did I think I had to put up with and be nice to and about mean things other people say!
I hear you Jane! I think our innate politeness gets in the way, just as other folks innate not-so-politeness takes over. It can be an exercise in constantly finding our personal boundary and sticking to it, IRL or online.
“Refuse to outsource your opinion on all matters of the heart. Never trust anything more than yourself (or, when appropriate, a credentialed expert).”
Right!! Thank you for this which I needed to see/hear from someone today.
Oh, this is brilliant. I need this on an A4 poster above my desk
Ha! Keeley said the same! I should commission someone to make one for us all!
Please also have the "No Dickheads Pls" artwork made into a framable poster. It made my heart swell three sizes when I saw it!
Heck yes!
Yes yes yes I second or third, is it a third at this point?!
I go between being terrified nobody will like what I write to expressing my ass off in those moments when I'm throwing all caution to the wind because what I have to say needs to be said! Dammit!
So I probably come off as hopelessly schizo and possibly dangerous, though kindly and old and isn't she sweet?
All this to say I needed this list. (Did I mention I normally hate lists? Especially long ones?) You hit every button and now that they've all been pushed, I'm going to have to check them all again and pay attention.
Thanks. Many thanks. Many, many thanks.
Many of these deserve a t-shirt-level of exposure 🤣🤍🙌🏽 I'm saving these for the future, I'm terrified to have to deal with things like these!
“T-shirt level of exposure” is going into my vocabulary from now on! 😂❤️ If anyone comes at you Susan you just let me know. I might let people be crappy to me but I am a LIONESS when it comes to all the other kindness potatoes!
Thank you so much for this. As a special pancake magnet - whose instinct is to coddle the pancake, and do whatever they say, and berate myself forever even though I know they’re just a professional dickhead (or having a bad day etc) - I appreciate the reminder that a kindness potato can still mute/block/simply roll away.
First rule of being a kindness potato is being kind to ourselves! ❤️ Amazing how many of us forget that bit. It feels so UNSAFE to have somebody out there hating us, but really it's not. It's way more harmful keeping space for them in our life.
So unsafe!!! Thank you, Sara. Put me down for a couple of pre-orders for the Self Kindness Potato™️
Agree with all of this. Away from Twitter my threads are calmer. I still rant but read everything carefully before submitting. This would be my addition to your list. We are responsible for our own input and must be sure that what we're posting is what we would like to read.
Thanks Sara.
I think we should create more just for the sake of it and consume less of everything. Thanks for the post Sara 💜
Today my friend showed me the growing collection of wood people she has been painting onto offcuts of wood leftover from a nearby building site. She doesn’t sell anything she makes, she just makes things that feel fun to her, for pleasure while she recuperates from long covid. As someone still heaving the rock of “making is for productivity and purpose and doing” I feel very grateful for the lived example 😌 By which mean, yes, totally agree, taking that with me into 2024.
Gosh. We all need this example so much!
I so needed this today! I've been going over and over in my head about how I want to do this and then do that...and just do the thing already! I really overthink all the things (which has it's blessings and curses), it's so nice to see that those feelings are valid AND holding me back at the same time. Thank you for putting this out in the world!
This community is top notch ☝🏻
This list is gold! I wish I could add more hearts. So much heartfelt goodness here. If only the whole internet could follow these rules we'd be in much better shape.
Brilliant post, Sara. When I joined Threads I regarded it as a fresh start. No being courteous to idiots (not do I confront them - I just ignore/mute). No following back out of politeness. If someone's posts make me cringe or sigh then I mute or unfollow. The stress levels (which I was barely aware of as they had become normal) have dropped dramatically.
Feels like freedom
Thank you for this read! It’s such a marvelous guide fore fellow writers and creators on the platform ... ☝🏻
This is brilliant. Now I just have to remember all the points...;)
I need to make a printable version! Mostly for myself 🙈
I LOVE THIS SO MUCH. This year I've really been leaning into finding my own voice without letting it be influenced by lies I've either been told or told myself, including that my work isn't valuable enough to be paid for, or that no one wants to hear what I have to say. I need this posted on my wall.
I too am trying to lean into this way of thinking with various degrees of success lol