Here we go again….
A few months ago, I happened upon a Facebook decorating group that I joined. It was filled with people trying to redo their spaces in a certain style that is similar to my own, though my style is considerably less cluttered than that style would suggest.
I don’t usually participate in online groups as I don’t want to engage with trolls (even if I am Swedish). I didn’t put a comment section on this website for that very reason. I don’t want to give trolls an outlet at my expense. I’m also not monetized in any way, so I am not required to beg for “likes” or “subcribes.”
Having made somewhat of a minor stand against trolls, I naively thought this decorating group was fairly safe. It seemed to be populated by kind people who wanted to get advice from others on decorating. I studied the comments for several weeks before I decided to venture out into the murky waters of social media anonymity. Unfortunately, several weeks wasn’t long enough….
I can’t remember the exact question that I asked, but the gist is that I wanted ideas for the blank walls in my living room as I was finally getting around to properly decorating that room.
A majority of the people were lovely. Most of them wanted me to install bookcases everywhere. That wasn’t a great plan for me as I have a reading room with bookcases and an office with them as well. I use bookcases for books and didn’t want to put books in that room.
Another idea was to put console tables flanking the fireplace with art above them. I hadn’t thought about putting tables there, so that was a helpful suggestion which I did end up using (moved from a different room).
My brother generously gave me a buffet table and a china cabinet that had been in our family for years. I repainted them in the same blue as the kitchen cabinets. The buffet has wheels which makes a convenient TV stand that can be wheeled into position when needed. The china cabinet holds some of the treasures that we have been picking up over the last year and a half.
I purchased some art from Etsy that my mom painted over to make it unique and special, which turned out just as I expected: amazing.
What I didn’t expect were the hateful comments about my previous design decisions. I only asked about art on the walls. There were some trolls that thought they needed to rip apart everything in the room, including my new fireplace. That one still rankles me, if I’m honest.
I was tempted to lash out and tell these delightful people to “stick it,” but that isn’t what I should do, so I didn’t. Instead, I ignored the rude people and took the advice of several of the kind ones.
What surprised me was just how badly their comments made me feel….
I don’t know these people, so why should I care what they think? I suppose at most of our cores, we do care whether someone is being nice to us or hateful. Thankfully for me, I could just hit “unfollow” and be done with it.
We’ve all had hateful people in our lives. What we MUST remember, when dealing with hateful people, is that they don’t get to define us. That’s God’s job, and I’ve read that book cover to cover. We are: His Workmanship, Saints, Sheep of His pasture, Ambassadors for Christ, and Children of God. These are just a few titles I pulled from a quick search.
Not too shabby, eh? Makes the feelings of being a “terrible decorator” just disappear. In the scheme of life, a few random strangers ripping apart a room that I hadn’t even finished decorating yet really doesn’t matter at all.
And isn’t that just a wonderful thought?
The next time someone makes you feel insignificant or bad. Do a search of what God says about you. I guarantee that will put things into perspective.
Now that my living room is finally decorated, I’m thinking about getting back on that site to post my completed living room, just to see what happens. I may be saying rather quickly, “here we go again…” but I hope it turns out better than I think. At least I have the tool to combat the hate…letting God define me, not other people. And that gives me great comfort!
