Unfollowed

Being rejected is unpleasant, whatever form it takes. The anticipation of it is sometimes worse than it is itself, but often the reality is as bad as feared. I find that can be the case in an arena where thinking about things in these terms is perhaps rare: Twitter. I accumulate Twitter followers at a modest rate, and have not terribly many for someone as active as I am. For that reason maybe, the loss of followers can be affecting.

It's not bad if I am unfollowed by someone who was only following me in the hopes that I would follow them. If I didn't like their stuff enough to follow them, it is fine when they get the message and stop following me. If I felt that way about them and they unfollowed me because I tweeted too much or wrote something objectionable, that's fine too. The sheer number of followers doesn't matter as much to me as whether they signify anything meaningful.

When I'm unfollowed by someone who I know or whose tweets I like, that's very unpleasant. I think about all the reasons why they might have done it, and whether any of those things are something I could or should do something about. I admit that I feel hurt, whether or not that is justifiable. A person ought to have a thick skin and feel secure enough about their value that they are not shaken by such a minor thing, but I haven't and don't.

I am somewhat regretful for raising such a subject, but I always admire those who have a propensity for candor. Anyway, In the future I'll either become secure enough that I am not so affected by such losses, or else my meager following will grow so much that only the loss of many followers would reach my notice. I should aspire to the former scenario, but will settle for the latter while dreaming of having both of them.