Nearly every morning for over 2 years, I’ve begun my day with a cheery ‘Good morning’ tweet. It usually continues: “Looking forward to (whatever I’m doing that day), how about you?” and finishes by wishing everyone a ‘marvellous Monday, terrific Tuesday’ and so on. What started as a light-hearted ice-breaker, because I wasn’t sure what to tweet, has become a tongue-in-cheek habit. I love it when people tweet back with what they have planned and wish me a great day too.
The majority of those who tweeted back to me said thanks for being so cheerful adding that they looked forward to my daily greetings. So I carried on with them, even though some mornings it can be hard to keep on coming up with something that I’m looking forward to!
A few weeks ago something happened that stopped me in my tracks. Someone told me they found my constant cheery good mornings annoying and false, and didn’t I realise that not everyone appreciated reading such ‘Pollyanna’ tweets every day?
Ouch! That hurt, I mean it really hurt me. There I was thinking I was adding a little cheerfulness to peoples’ mornings .... had I got it totally wrong?
The following morning I just sat at my computer, fingers hovering over the keyboard and, for the first time since I can remember, didn’t know what to type. Should I tone things down or stick with what I always do?
The longer I hesitated, the worse it got. After what seemed like hours (but in reality was probably about 5 minutes) I couldn’t think of anything remotely cheerful to tweet. So I went with something really bland, pressed enter and then didn’t bother check for replies.
And you know what? I was in a really down mood for the rest of that day. And the next day, and the day after that as well. It was as if my cheerfulness had been stolen because I no longer felt able to greet the mornings as I had in the past. As you can imagine, this was not a good state to be in.
It took a few days before I came to realise that my purposely cheerful morning tweets had forced me to come up with something to look forward to each day so I could tweet about it. Without that discipline, any worries, hassles and disappointments seemed to push themselves to the front of my thoughts, blighting my day and darkening my mood.
The very next day I thumbed my nose at the killjoys out there and returned to my cheerful morning tweets. I felt so much better for it - straight away - for the rest of the day, and the next day, and the day after that.
My morning greetings are for me - and anyone else who cares to be light-hearted - even if it’s a bit of a struggle some days.
As for those people who find my daily ‘Pollyanna’ greetings annoying - there’s always the Unfollow button ;)
What do you say?
Hi Jim - thanks for your kind comment & support. Deep down I already knew what you rightly say about not being able to please everyone - I just didn't expect the negative comment to affect me as it did.
It was an 'interesting' experience and normal cheerful tweeting has now been resumed :)
Posted by: LouiseBJ | October 27, 2010 at 07:51 AM
In my experience, Louise, you can't keep everyone happy and it's a waste of time to even try.
The only thing you have control over, is what you do - Not what others choose to think.
Just be the very best "Louise" that you can be.
That's why we love you, after all ;)
Posted by: Jim Connolly | October 26, 2010 at 10:02 PM
Hi Sam - you're right about the amount of negativity out there - it can drag you down if you take in too much of it. And no-one likes a constant whiner. Isn't there a saying that misery likes company? Perhaps there should be a special Twitter list or Facebook group just for miseries ;)
Thanks for your supportive comments!
Posted by: LouiseBJ | October 26, 2010 at 01:31 PM