Hi Shannon. You once told me that you tried not to read responses for the reasons you explained above. I didn’t get it and I am sorry. I said just ignore it or some type of ignorance. Someone recently in my writing group told me I was racist in my writing. I was flabbergasted at first and then very hurt. Luckily other members in the club said it was nonsense and definitely not racist. The feelings I had were intense and certainly not what I expected. I did expect to be critiqued but this was different. It has taken me a couple of weeks to get over this. The old me would say grow a thicker skin. The new me now says watch what you say even if you say it with no malice intended.

My new motto for this year is You do You and I’ll do Me! I won’t try telling others how to live their lives and will try to stay in my lane.