I’d Rather Be Dodgy…

dodgy

It’s weird you know, I’m fifty years old and I’d like to think I’ve learned a few valuable life lessons along the way. I’m still learning, in fact this journey in particular over the last few months has peeled away a lot of layers and revealed things about me to myself that I don’t think I ever knew. If someone had told me at the very start of this journey that that would happen it might have spooked me a bit, I mean it could have had disaster written all over it, right? We all know about Pandora’s box.

Happily, as I’ve uncovered stuff, talking it through with you lot has helped me to work through it, in fact it’s been like six hundred words of therapy every day. I’m more grateful than I can tell you for the fact that you all listen to whatever comes out of my head, and then empathise, and relate, and chip in with your own perspective.

I must admit, I’m totally unguarded on here, and I’m sure occasionally I’ve been guilty of over-sharing, but I’d hope my words come across to you as authentic. It’s my journey, as seen through my own eyes, and whilst I might crack a joke or two, those of you who’ve sussed me out will understand that’s my default way of dealing with difficult, you know?

So I had an email yesterday morning from one of my most loyal supporters who was absolutely outraged that someone had awarded a ‘poor’ rating to something I wrote a couple of days ago. And bless her, she even felt the need to apologise on their behalf. I was so touched at the way she had my back, but to be honest until she pointed it out, I hadn’t actually noticed.

See, I don’t think too much about the star ratings widget…it’s useful in the way it allows me to see which posts you enjoy the most, and I love that it generates a favourite posts list – new folk who wander into the blog tend to poke around in there, and it gives them a good flavour of what we’re all about. I’ve never really thought about it in the context of people passing judgement on my writing, daft as that might sound.

I’ve got to be honest, I didn’t like the fact that someone thought my words weren’t up to scratch, but I wasn’t especially worried about it. And this little storm in a teacup demonstrated perfectly to me just how far I’ve grown in the last few months. At one time I would’ve been absolutely gutted.

I would have read, and re-read the post, trying to pinpoint the exact bit which sent someone’s opinion of me plummeting downwards. I would’ve chewed myself up about it and then probably headed straight to the Hobnobs. I wasn’t good enough, look it’s there in black and white, I’m officially rubbish. POOR!! I need a hobnob immediately to make me feel better.

This time, I re-read it once and thought you know what, it’s probably not the most entertaining post I’ve written but actually, it helped me. And let’s not forget, I write for me. Writing my thoughts down on that day in the way that I did helped me to find a link. And the links I’ve gathered over the past ten or so months are the reason I’m still here, sashaying along on this road to Skinny Town.

So I’m happy with those words even if they weren’t to someone else’s taste…they served me well. They had a purpose. And if I tried to be funny when I wasn’t feeling funny, that’s when I stop being authentic, right?

I don’t much fancy getting another ‘poor’ though. Ever. So I changed the descriptions, ‘cos I can do that. ‘Poor’ is now a bit dodgy, and ‘awful’ is now a steaming pile of shite. I sincerely hope nobody ever thinks that, but at least if they do it’ll make me chuckle, and I’d rather be dodgy than poor any day of the week..!

Have a great weekend everyone…see you on the other side 🙂

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12 thoughts on “I’d Rather Be Dodgy…

  1. HAHAHAHA! “Steaming pile!!” Love this & I feel strongly that the rating options should be A LOT more comprehensive for all those companies’ offshore call centers, etc.

    Margaret said it! Many many times I could simply “sign off” on your blog, it is so dead-on — although (hah!) I tend to have something to say

  2. Dee, I don’t really even think I know how to rate your blog. I mean, I see the stars and everything, but if I click on them, I don’t know if they work or not. That said, I’d always rate you five stars because I love your blog, what you share and how you share it. You are authentic. I can relate to you.

    Yesterday was our Class Day at work. It’s an awards ceremony for the seniors and I’m in charge of it. I put together a committee of people to help and found the few people who wanted to be on the committee but didn’t participate were the very ones who did ZERO to help and then complained the most. I only listened to ONE of their complaints because it was the ONE I acknowledged as legitimate. I can HONESTLY say I have NO memories of any of their other criticisms because all I heard was squawking and I felt like saying, “Get over yourself, you did nothing. Your opinion means nothing. Shut the eff up.” And that’s where I left it. At the curb.

    I find myself caring less and less about what people have to say. Chalk it up to popularity like Margaret said and move on. Could be whoever gave you the low rating was like me and didn’t even know how to rate you. Sorry if I sound stupid, but whatever. Click on the stars, try to rate you five and then I’m really not sure if they are accepted or not!

  3. Some people think they are helping when they criticize. Since the post helped you, and that was the intent, i’m glad you are ignoring the rating. Love your new choices, by the way!

  4. It’s just a sign of your growing popularity; you can’t be truly internet famous until you have your share of haters. Really, it’s true.

    For myself, I’ve read this blog so often and not commented because you were so exactly spot on and funny that all I could have said would have been, “+1, cosign”

    So… +1, cosign, Dee. xoMargaret

  5. Glad you didn’t let a internet troll get to you. Ignore them and move along.
    I like how you relabeled the ratings.

    I don’t always comment sometimes I don’t have much to say:) This is your journey
    and I feel like I don’t have a right to “judge” another persons journey. Plus I was
    raised to believe that you treat other people the way you want to be treated.

    Have a great weekend and thanks for sharing your journey and being an authentic voice.

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