When you first start streaming and attracting an audience the feeling of having people openly support your stream and being happy every time you go live is pretty darn cool. One issue that you will run into at some point is that there will be people who do not like your stream or what it stands for. Whether it’s the layout you use, how big of a sellout you are, how annoying you are, there will be people who just don’t like what you do. Today I want to talk about dealing with these type of personalities and how being the better person will lead to turning some of these people into friends.
Kill’em With Kindness
So you’ve attracted a group of people who don’t like you. It doesn’t matter what their reason is, their mission is to publicly deface what you’re super passionate about. They will say terrible things about you on social media, they will come into your chat just to push your buttons, and bring up things to make you mad. The only way to combat these type of attacks is to fight fire with fire right? Go on an epic twitter rant about how awful these people are and how you’re being victimized! Wrong. Don’t do this. All you’re doing is ticking off the people that actually support you by stooping to the level of the people attacking you. Instead “Kill’em with kindness.” Now I just want to point out, this does not mean kill them, it simply means treat them with real kindness.
So you’ve attracted a group of people who don’t like you. It doesn’t matter what their reason is, their mission is to publicly deface what you’re super passionate about. They will say terrible things about you on social media, they will come into your chat just to push your buttons, and bring up things to make you mad. The only way to combat these type of attacks is to fight fire with fire right? Go on an epic twitter rant about how awful these people are and how you’re being victimized! Wrong. Don’t do this. All you’re doing is ticking off the people that actually support you by stooping to the level of the people attacking you. Instead “Kill’em with kindness.” Now I just want to point out, this does not mean kill them, it simply means treat them with real kindness.
It’s really easy to feel mistreated by people and feel you need to react in the same way, but all you’re doing is feeding the fire. When you choose to react in kindness instead of anger, people will be caught off guard. People say a lot of mean things to get a reaction that satisfies them. When you respond in the reaction that they don’t want, it challenges them to actually think about how they are acting.
A Personal Story
I’ve been in the speed running community for 3 years. It’s been a great experience with a lot of ups and downs along the way and it has also been a huge learning experience as well. I’ve made my fair share of mistakes that at the time I thought would be super beneficial to the community that ended up not being as openly received as I thought. Due to these decisions, I took a lot of flak from the community. I also received a lot of personal attacks that were pretty baseless and pretty unfair considering the intentions that I had at the time. Instead of blowing up on Twitter about the way people were reacting, I instead chose to just let it roll over. I didn’t lash out about the views of others, I instead did my best to “Kill them with kindness.” It wasn’t an overnight solution; people didn’t magically take the time to come around and give me a chance, it was a process. I kept choosing to either ignore these type of individuals, or react to them with kindness even though the way they were talking to and about me wasn’t very nice at all.
I decided to act this way and over time, people started coming up to me and apologizing for some of the things they had said or thought about me. Some of these same people that disliked me are now good friends because I chose to not respond in the same way. This process is not an overnight solution, but requires a lot of patience. Some of these relationships took years to turn around and fix, but the wait will always be worth it.
I’ve been in the speed running community for 3 years. It’s been a great experience with a lot of ups and downs along the way and it has also been a huge learning experience as well. I’ve made my fair share of mistakes that at the time I thought would be super beneficial to the community that ended up not being as openly received as I thought. Due to these decisions, I took a lot of flak from the community. I also received a lot of personal attacks that were pretty baseless and pretty unfair considering the intentions that I had at the time. Instead of blowing up on Twitter about the way people were reacting, I instead chose to just let it roll over. I didn’t lash out about the views of others, I instead did my best to “Kill them with kindness.” It wasn’t an overnight solution; people didn’t magically take the time to come around and give me a chance, it was a process. I kept choosing to either ignore these type of individuals, or react to them with kindness even though the way they were talking to and about me wasn’t very nice at all.
I decided to act this way and over time, people started coming up to me and apologizing for some of the things they had said or thought about me. Some of these same people that disliked me are now good friends because I chose to not respond in the same way. This process is not an overnight solution, but requires a lot of patience. Some of these relationships took years to turn around and fix, but the wait will always be worth it.
Stay True
One of the biggest lessons I learned in life is be true to yourself and don’t be a people pleaser. When you choose to do something you’re passionate about, you will always have people doubting you and disagreeing with you. Make the decision that you’re not going to try and please everyone. This doesn’t mean you don’t listen to the advice of your friends, it just means you don’t try and make your stream so that no one gets mad at you.
One of the biggest suggestions I would give to new streamers is don’t be afraid of mistakes. You’re going to make them when you start streaming, and there will be people that will use those opportunities to bring you down. The key is to learn from them and not make them again. Sometimes people have warranted reasons to be upset with you, but it doesn’t give you an excuse to respond in anger and immaturity. Kill’em with kindness and stay true!
Follow us on Twitter so you get all the latest updates! @StreamBigNET
One of the biggest lessons I learned in life is be true to yourself and don’t be a people pleaser. When you choose to do something you’re passionate about, you will always have people doubting you and disagreeing with you. Make the decision that you’re not going to try and please everyone. This doesn’t mean you don’t listen to the advice of your friends, it just means you don’t try and make your stream so that no one gets mad at you.
One of the biggest suggestions I would give to new streamers is don’t be afraid of mistakes. You’re going to make them when you start streaming, and there will be people that will use those opportunities to bring you down. The key is to learn from them and not make them again. Sometimes people have warranted reasons to be upset with you, but it doesn’t give you an excuse to respond in anger and immaturity. Kill’em with kindness and stay true!
Follow us on Twitter so you get all the latest updates! @StreamBigNET
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