Yesterday I posted this on Mastodon (post link)
I'm building a new habit here on Mastodon: instead of liking, I try to reply to at least 3 posts, especially on those that don't have comments yet and I love it.
It's so much more personal!
and boy, the response was overwhelming, at one point it took me half an hour to respond to everyone.
Most of the comments were roughly as follows
group a: I love this idea and I'm going to do this too
group b: I would love to do this but I don't know if people would want to read my words.
I'm a part of group b, usually, I often am afraid people won't like what I write or will think me silly.
Yesterday afternoon, just before posting this, I decided to stop hiding and just say what I felt, and it was SO good.
Just telling someone that I loved a picture or that I loved something they wrote. At one point I wrote a thoughtful response to a question. All this made me feel so good, as if I was becoming part of the community.
When it comes to commenting, I always tell myself that if I'm kind I can do no wrong.
This keeps my jitters away and I read through everything before I hit post and sometimes add a smiley to make clear I'm joking.
This morning I opened Mastodon and I felt like, as one commenter said to my post, I entered a pub and was engaging in conversation. I've talked about kittens and about crochet. It was awesome.
And yes, sometimes I fear commenting still, or think people might think me stupid for expressing a thought, but I still post it.
I'm no longer afraid to comment. I hope you won't be, too :)