I started to add a daily coping tip to the SQLServerCentral newsletter and to the Community Circle, which is helping me deal with the issues in the world. I’m adding my responses for each day here. All my coping tips are under this tag.
Today’s tip is to decide to lift people up rather than put them down.
I live in the US, and our culture and atmosphere has been challenging across the last decade with the political climate. I also find that more and more often that people tend to present a worse version of themselves online. It’s also easy to try to make a joke in response to some post, and not realize that the way it is received is far different from how you intended the words.
I see this often in Twitter, and I’m certainly guilt of registering a complaint, an opinion, or some comment without thinking.
I saw this tip and then started to think about how I interact with people. A few of us have been trying to find a way to continue events through Data Saturdays, after the SQL Saturday franchise folded. There are lots of opinions and feelings about this, and as these are expressed, strong emotions can follow.
I’ve been making an effort, publicly and privately, to be positive and try to help others accomplish what they want, regardless of how I feel. In an effort to lift people, I have been working on being positive, and asking questions if there is something I might not like or agree with. I’ll let someone educate me before we debate.
It feels better to approach things online this way.