I had written a post about animals
And animal abuse
And was promptly told that I was a hypocrite because I eat meat
I went back and deleted a lot of the post because I didn't want any more comments in the same vein
Some of you lovely ladies jumped to my defence
And I am so grateful for that
It's no secret that I love animals
And my dogs are my whole world
But I'm also recovering from a life threatening eating disorder
I am not in the habit of cutting out whiole food groups
As that plays in to my ED
When I was growing up
I thought long and hard about becoming vegetarian
And was one for a short while
But I was so active
And wasn't getting enough nutrition from other foods
So I went back to eating meat
It's very easy for an anonymous commenter to say their piece
They are hiding behind the anonymity of a computer screen
Safe on the knowledge that their identity is well guarded secret
It's easy to point the finger
To point out what someone is doing is wrong
And to say it in a sarcastic and cutting tone
Don't get me wrong
I'm a big girl
And can handle such comments
99% of the comments I get are positive, well considered and thoughtful
It's only the very odd comment that is nasty
And of course it's always written anonymously
I write my blog every day
So I guess I am bound to piss someone off at some point
As a blogger
I put myself out there for the world to see
And to judge
As I move on in recovery
I write less and less about my illness
And more about my life outside my ED
As you know
I am honest here
More honest than I am in any other area of my life
And I am open to ridicule here
As is any blogger or vlogger
Or any one who has a Facebook, Twitter or Instagram account
People seem to love to take others down a peg or two
And point out what they are doing or saying wrong
I guess that's life though
You can't please all of the people all of the time
I'm so grateful to have genuine friends here
Who know me
And know that I try my best to be a good and honest person
I don't claim to be a saint
Or anything like one
I make mistakes
Usually on a daily basis
It's just that my mistakes are posted on the Internet for all and sundry to see
God knows I am far from perfect
And I don't try to be
I am human
I am a girl trying to recover from severe addiction and a chronic eating disorder
Forgive me if I choose to eat
For a long time I deprived myself of food
I guess I was a vegetarian by default
As meat was one of the foods that I avoided
Now
I choose to have a varied diet
Including meat
And I don't apologise for that
That does not mean that I can't be an animal lover
Of course I can
As I wrote yesterday
I feel a great affinity with animals
More so than with humans a lot of the time
So please anonymous
Don't tell me what is and isn't right for me
Only I can decide that
This matter has got me thinking about the Internet
And social media
And how we post so much of our lives online
Everything we do
Everything we eat
Every feeling we feel
Every high
And every low
I am not a huge Facebooker
And don't use Tumblr, Twitter or Instagram
I use my blog to document my life
However
I am thinking of opening a Twitter account
Just as another facet to my writing
But posting every little thing we do
Is it a good idea?
Sometimes i take an odd look at FB
Some of the stuff on there is interesting, funny or thought provoking
But there is also an awful lot of crap on there
And you have to sift through a lot of it to get to the good stuff
I blog because I love to write
And I love to have my life documented
It is such a roller coaster
And it's nice to have it all recorded
With photos too
I read back over it sometimes
And it's like reading about someone else
It's very strange
But amazing also
With all that said
I was wondering about you
Do you use any other social media?
Why or why not?
Do you think it's healthy to post so much about ourselves?
Why or why not?
Have you ever been the target of abuse from anonymous commenters?
How did you deal with it?
Answers on a postcard please.....