Negativity On My Blog

A couple weeks ago I had someone write a comment on my blog, which was slightly less than flattering. This was posted by "Fellow realtor (he did not use the correct mark, but because of recent events, I will add it to him / her here)

"Wow, you're an angry realtor, wonder if your customers feed on your negative energy and negative energy ...... you have any feedback about anything ?..... seems like you need to relax a bit or chose a second career ....."

My first reaction was a desire to slam his / her position. I wanted to get into the spelling, the grammar, the lack of a logo ..... I had this thing quickly chopped up in my mind. How dare he / she makes these comments after reading a blog post that discussed the use of air fresheners in the seller's home. He / she can come to this conclusion about me after reading something like that? It was a lousy post, and I was defensive. Instead, here is what I replied:

"Thanks for taking the time to read my blog and post a comment ipfreely. I'm really glad you read this blog post.

I will take the high road here with my answer - if for no other reason than to help my argument that I'm the furthest thing from an "angry realtor ®".

Thanks for stopping by. "

I reacted in this way because I came to a realization rather quickly ..... the realization that if I want to put me 'out there', I have to be okay with a less than flattering answers. If I'm not okay with this, so I'll keep my strong opinions to myself. My blog is not an instructional blog .... it is not an inspiring blog .... it is a blog that offers advice, rants, raves and opinions. I'm not saying I have to be okay with personal attacks on my blog, but critical comments and people taking issue with my views come with the territory.

It is not new. Anyone who has been maintaining a blog have come to this realization at some point, and thousands out there have known this for a very long time. It was just my time to realize this.

Someone asked me why I do not just delete the post. It is not me. It would take something pretty extreme to be deployed before I would pull the post. I throw my opinions and commentaries, and I am okay to hear a negative reaction to those statements and comments.

So feel free to leave a comment .... tell me that I did not know what I'm talking about .... let me know that you completely disagree with my viewpoint.

I can take it.

..... And for the record? I love my job and I aspire to be a positive and optimistic person, both personally and professionally.