WIL WHEATON dot NET

50,000 Monkeys at 50,000 Typewriters Can't Be Wrong

regarding the kindness of strangers.

  • blog
Over the last few days, I’ve encountered a lot of people who have been kind to me. I’ve seen people in random places, like the grocery store and the pet store, who have told me that they read my stuff online, and they appreciate me. I ran into a bunch of people at my friend’s show last night, who told me how much they value — not just like, but value — Tabletop, and more than a few people there told me that they thought I was a good person who does good things.
 
If you’re one of these people, I know I said “thank you” in person, but I want to say it again, in public, in a way that my anxiety doesn’t allow when we’re face to face.
Thank you! I needed that, so much.
 
You see, I *really* needed to be reminded that the stuff I do matters to people, and is worth my time and effort. I’m dealing with a few really terrible things in my real life that I’m not talking about in public, and won’t talk about in public, and at the same time, I’ve been struggling with anxiety. I can feel a capital-D Depressive episode lurking around pretty much every corner, and I’m doing my best to practice my CBT and take my meds and talk to the people who are close to me, who care about me and help me when my brain decides to turn on me. For far too long, my brain has been going out of its way to remind me that I suck at everything, the book I’ve worked so hard on for so long is going to fail (it won’t; I’m super proud of it and believe in it), and nobody cares about me or what I do. The world has moved on, I’m drifting into “trivia answer” territory, and if I just disappeared from public life tomorrow, nobody would care or notice.
 
I know that none of that is real, but … well, I’ve written about Depression before and how it is such a giant dick about stuff like this. It’s challenging to tune out that insistent voice of doubt and despair, even when I know that it’s just a bunch of noise.
 
I shouldn’t give trolls and harassers any space in my head, too, but I gotta be honest: that last week on Twitter was horrible. Every day was a flood of people putting in considerable time and effort to make me miserable, and even though I was able to ignore most of it, some of it still got through. I mean, I’m just human and I have a wonky brain, so…
 
Maybe I’m just more *aware* of the kindness of people in the last few days, or maybe there really has been some kind of uptick in kindness for some reason that normal people can probably see, but remains hidden to me. But the end result is: I’m doing everything I can to practice gratitude, kindness, empathy, and patience. I’m not always successful, but the affirmation I’ve gotten from people who don’t know me and have no reason to reach out with kindness and appreciation has made a HUGE difference.
 
I’m so grateful for the love and support and patience that my wife and children give me every day, but I’ve been dealing with so much negativity and cruelty, I haven’t been able to see and feel it. The people who have been kind and gentle to me recently sort of helped push back the weasels of despair that have been threatening to overwhelm me, which has created the space in my life that I couldn’t make myself to accept and embrace the love of my wife and kids.
 
So thank you, people who don’t know me and have nothing to gain by being kind to me, for your kindness, whether you are offline or online.
 
And please consider this: you have choices all day long about how you treat people. Every interaction can be kind, or it can be cruel, and the choice you make will have an effect on people you’ll never meet. Make a choice that you’ll feel good about.
 
Thanks for listening.
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr
  • Click to share on Bluesky (Opens in new window) Bluesky
  • More
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) Pinterest

Like this:

Like Loading...

Related


Discover more from WIL WHEATON dot NET

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

20 August, 2018 Wil

Post navigation

The world is a terrible place right now, and that’s largely because it is what we make it. → ← the summer of mild inconveniences

172 thoughts on “regarding the kindness of strangers.”

  1. Trish Bocklage says:
    30 August, 2018 at 12:14 pm

    I don’t understand the need that some people have to spread hate and ugliness around. If you and I ever hung out together and talked, I bet we would find way more fun cool things to discuss than the number of things we disagree on. I guess it is all on one’s outlook. I’m sorry that your depression and anxiety are being so rough, but I am happy that you have a great support network to remind you of how amazing life is and that the world is better with you in it.

  2. Marci Sleightam says:
    31 August, 2018 at 9:35 am

    💖 positive thoughts give you positive reactions .You are a rare jewel you you express yourself freely and have many talents. You are loved and admired by people all around the globe and I venture to guess a few out in space 🚀 keep indulging your passions. Much love and respect from my family to yours .

  3. Brandon Mullins says:
    31 August, 2018 at 11:07 am

    Come up with a name and a set of guidelines and I’ll put together a new microblogging site themed around “don’t be a dick”.

Comment navigation

← Older Comments

Comments are closed.

Related Posts

hey it’s me on the katee sackhoff podcast!

I recorded this episode of the Katee Sackhoff Podcast a couple of weeks ago. It’s when I realized I needed to spend some money on a camera and some lights, […]

it’s storytime with wil wheaton episode 7 – end of play by chelsea sutton

Well, here we are in Spain. I feel like I am just getting started, and I wish I had more new episodes yet to come, but we have come to […]

it’s storytime with wil wheaton episode 6 – if we make it through this alive by a.t. greenblatt

Happy Wednesday, friends! I'm here to remind you that there's a new episode of It's Storytime with Wil Wheaton, waiting for you wherever you get your podcasts.

good news, everyone!

Whoops. I misread my calendar, and this week’s It’s Storytime with Wil Wheaton is not the final episode. And it is not the episode I teased in the blog post […]

Recent Posts

hey it’s me on the katee sackhoff podcast!

hey it’s me on the katee sackhoff podcast!

I recorded this episode of the Katee Sackhoff Podcast a couple of weeks ago. It’s when I realized I needed to spend some money on a camera and some lights, […]

More Info
it’s storytime with wil wheaton episode 7 – end of play by chelsea sutton

it’s storytime with wil wheaton episode 7 – end of play by chelsea sutton

Well, here we are in Spain. I feel like I am just getting started, and I wish I had more new episodes yet to come, but we have come to […]

More Info
it’s storytime with wil wheaton episode 6 – if we make it through this alive by a.t. greenblatt

it’s storytime with wil wheaton episode 6 – if we make it through this alive by a.t. greenblatt

Happy Wednesday, friends! I'm here to remind you that there's a new episode of It's Storytime with Wil Wheaton, waiting for you wherever you get your podcasts.

More Info
good news, everyone!

good news, everyone!

Whoops. I misread my calendar, and this week’s It’s Storytime with Wil Wheaton is not the final episode. And it is not the episode I teased in the blog post […]

More Info

 

  • Instagram
  • Facebook

Member of The Internet Defense League

Creative Commons License
WIL WHEATON dot NET by Wil Wheaton is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at http://wilwheaton.net.

Search my blog

Powered by WordPress | theme SG Double
%d