Okay this calls for a Twitter Thread.

While I know what Ajmira is saying is very logical (and empathetic) but I have seen too many bloggers, freelancers, entrepreneurs (including yours truly) be heartbroken when they expect this and it doesn't happen exactly. https://twitter.com/Soberphobiccc/status/1274966963081506816

When I started Blogging - I was always desperate for comments from my friends and family. I would send them my links etc - and most would ignore. It would crush me.

I even posted on Facebook crying out loud over this behaviour - but nothing changed. So I kept quiet & moved on.

Until one day - I saw in my friends group that they had shared link of a school senior's blogpost and heaping praises over it.

As a blogger I found the post at best average - her site so badly done. And almost no effort in even building readability of content on flow.

And here I was building a website from scratch - looking at elements and backgrounds. And learning tech on my own. And writing in paragraphs broken down correctly. I MEAN BLOGGING IS SO MUCH MORE THAN WRITING <Thank you>

But nah - not a word. So I obviously lost it. And reacted

Did that bring any change. Umm. No.

Then I started building Blogchatter - by then I had figured my learnings. I was pretty much catching on things on my own. But was this all without good stories? No!

I had given up hope completely but some still delivered.

I had my first offline event for Blogchatter in Delhi. My first ever workshop. And my best friend showed up. Fifteen mins early. Helped me set tables and talk to people.

She stayed through the entire workshop, kept cheering me with her smile.

Stayed back, helped me close things

AND EVEN TOOK ME TO THE AIRPORT FOR MY FLIGHT. I still remember we sat outside Delhi airport on those steel bars, and for an hour she told me how much she is proud of me and ensured she left only once I had boarded my flight.

I went back smiling and so loved.

But that was one event - and one person. I have had workshops where my friends have come in thirty mins late and left early too because they have a movie to catch.

I have had friends ignore some of my most important updates because umm why on Earth should they?

But Eleven years of Blogging and four Years of Blogchatter have taught me just one thing - don't expect the known people to support you. They won't.

I know it hurts, been there. But truth is they would rather support a random stranger than you. Why you ask? BEATS ME.

I know bloggers who quit writing because they didn't have their immediate circle supporting them. I have seen entrepreneurs losing momentum because their own didn't understand them.

And it hurts. Because these people wrote damn well. And these entrepreneurs hustled beyond

The mental trauma of seeing your own not supporting you is beyond everything. And so now I have included a section in my workshops where I explicitly tell people to dump all their expectations from friends & family. Just do it.

Random Strangers will help you out Instead.

Am I completely above this? Hell No. Last week something happened and I took two days off - because it is a very bad trigger too.

But then I sat down and explained to myself that I have received love and support from so many people - who I am yet to even meet!

In my DMs, my inbox, my whatsapp messages - I hear the hurt of that blogger, that author, that entrepreneurs - and it breaks me. I know despite everything that friend matters. That disbelief at them giving a damn is crushing.

In recent times we have heard so much about Sushant.

What was his story? His story was not about only acceptance. It was a story of acceptance from specific people - and not receiving it took a toll on him in ways unimaginable.

So. Accept the love you get and bask in it. Those who come, come - those who don't - their loss

Whatever I am today is not because of any friend or any family member - it is because of random strangers. And that is the most beautiful part of my story.

I today, give back the love I received to more random strangers - and hope it is enough to buoy them through everything.

One added point. What also helped me along was to recognise that my friends/family had different capacities of friendship / love towards me. And maybe my work was not important enough for them.

Compartmentalising that element helped me even secure my relationships back.