Never trash them, Karen! Save them in your blog's drafts for another day when they spark creativity. Truly, those drafts have been a godsend many a day when I had NO IDEA what to blog about. I hope life gets back to normal soon! I need to call you and see how you are.

The most important part is to find people, topics and group you really enjoy online so you will want to visit and spend time with them. Good luck!

Then my day is made! Seriously, feeling better in that one moment when someone is behaving badly isn't worth negating all the time and work you've put into nurturing your online presence. You're deciding on the direction of your platform so YOU can enjoy it for years to come. You've got this. 🙂

Thanks for your words of advice, Jenny. I've enjoyed talking through this question with you. Still have a ways to go in my thinking on it, but I'm seeing a clearer path.

You can do this and still enjoy the heck out of your online peeps, I promise. I'm sure you've heard the advice for website trolls and for bad reviews - don't engage. You don't have to look, but if you do look, DON'T engage. It's because the internet is public and forever, and it's not worth it.

That same philosophy is what I use for the wisdom getting into a political discussion online. It's a sure bet you're not going to agree with a ton of your pals on this subject, but to engage in a pissing match about it would diminish that friendship and mutual support, which are priceless. It's more productive to just hide those crazy-making posts while you're on Facebook and, like you said, focus on the areas where you have tons in common. Just because you don't lead with those beliefs doesn't mean you're less invested in them.

Thank you. I'll try that.