What trolls know is that to really get under someone's skin, it needs to be personal. The barbs that wound the most are those that fulfill two conditions:

a) some tiny part of you believes it’s true, and
b) you're ashamed of it.

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There are two broad strategies to reduce the possibility of personal pain inflicted upon you by trolls or unkind critics or judgmental family members or really, anyone:

1) Reduce the number of such people in your life
2) Learn to be less ashamed of your imperfections.

In your worst nightmare, when you imagine all the people you wish to impress standing together making fun of you, what are they saying?

Write down your answers. Whisper them out loud. There is power in being able to give shape to fear in the form of words.

Once you can voice your insecurities out loud to yourself, you can move on to saying them to somebody else.

Why does this matter? Because every time you share your insecurities, you are showing that they do not control you.

Like mold, fear thrives in darkness.

What we see and understand, we can overcome.

Own your own insecurities. Don't give others the satisfaction and power of finding them first.

Full article here (and you can subscribe to my mailing list to get more of these types of essays in your inbox in the future): https://lg.substack.com/p/the-looking-glass-dont-let-the-trolls