Thank You All For Making Me Smile
It’s not about the number of my followers, going viral, or anything like that
It was Saturday, over a week ago. I got up and somehow felt so dispirited and somehow… empty. Maybe it was because I missed John a lot, and I couldn’t even call or text him. That’s nothing new; we know our relationship’s situation, and I’m usually fine with that. But that day somehow was different… I missed him so much that I couldn’t concentrate on anything, and I felt down and despondent…
I sat at my computer and wanted to write, but the words weren’t coming. There is so much I want to share with the world, so many articles I’ve already written and only need to edit and publish; so much to do, yet that morning, I couldn’t do anything. The spirit wasn’t there. All that was coming to my mind was, “Why bother? Nobody cares… Anyway, all I feel is loneliness and sadness…”.
I decided to go through my notifications on Medium and check the messages there. I always appreciate every single person who leaves a note on my posts, replies to my comments, highlights or claps on my article. However, during the week, my time is very limited; therefore, I usually reply on the weekend.
That day I was glad I had all the comments to go through. When I started reading through them, I suddenly realized that life isn’t as bad as it seems. Though John couldn’t be with me that morning, there were others who engaged with me and, in some way, became part of my journey through life.
Some of the comments were on my posts left by people who thanked me for sharing my stories and giving them hope. Others were replies to the comments I left on posts of other writers. However, all of the comments showed one — the writers took time to understand me; some even checked my stories and read my articles to understand who I was before they left their replies.
There were also writers who left links to their articles, and I appreciate this too because the pieces were not random, but something the writer knew most probably I would enjoy reading, or it could even be helpful to me. They knew it because they took their time to understand me. And in fact, I loved their carefully chosen articles because the wisdom hidden in their stories indeed made me feel much better!
It’s why I wanted to say a big THANK YOU to all the writers on Medium who respect and appreciate other writers, who take their time to read other writers’ articles and seek meaningful relationships and build supportive communities.
Life isn’t about gathering thousands of followers and going viral (of course, it can be helpful if we need to pay our bills through writing, but… there is more to life than thinking about our own short-term benefits). This type of success is very short-lived. A fire that burns fast also extinguishes fast (after it has caused enough destruction).
Life is about making a positive difference, building meaningful relationships and supporting each other. This is a solid foundation for lasting success. Therefore Thank you to all who support other writers and work on creating a great community here on Medium! Regardless if you are my follower, or you just replied to my comment, or maybe we have never interacted, but you support other writers — thank you for being you and being part of the wonderful community on Medium!
I also wanted to remind everyone that our actions, regardless of how big or small, always impact others. Often we won’t even know how much influence we have on someone’s life just by being kind to them.
Those who know me also know that I always smile and I’m always happy (I don’t pretend to be happy, I’m grateful for what I have, and therefore, I’m always content and, in this meaning, happy). But even people like me, who are highly resilient, strong and positively minded, who can see the sunshine while looking into the eye of a cyclone, also have bad days. They will also have moments when they feel down and depressed, and they will find strength and courage in the positive comments you leave on their articles or responses to the comments they leave on your article.
Always be kind and respectful to others! Wishing everyone a wonderful day and all the best on your journey through life!
I didn’t have time to review and post my article the day I wrote it, and luckily so, because a couple of days later, I got tagged in the following article by Shirley Laffa
In this article, Shirley thanks many writers for their kindness and the support she has received from them in various ways (I was honoured to be included in the list). I already follow and interact with some of the writers listed there, but I’ll surely check out all of them, and I encourage everyone to read Shirley’s article and check out all the great writers!
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