I Ran From Medium

And this is why.

It’s good to have nice places in which to run away.

When you put something out into the modern universe, you may well expect to hear from people who stir you up in one way or another. I’ve been on reddit for a dozen years, I know that. Being called a “fucktard” helps innoculate one from unpleasant disagreements.

But then one day someone subscribed to my writings. Someone I knew irl, as they say. Someone I had known for over 20 years in irl.

When you know someone in real life, it’s not the same as having a perfect stranger call you a fucktard.

This is a person I have never wanted in my private life, and their sense of boundaries would naturally be oblivious to any such modicum of respect. So I blocked them and quit writing here. The thought of my work being inside THEIR head was as unpleasant as their existing in mine.

Part of this is having been a licensed mental health professional.

When you try to help people for a living, be it social worker or psychologist or public defender, you are perfectly aware that some people will want to get into your head and take up residence there. Some of these people stir compassion and sorrow, no matter how many decades have gone by after their tragedy.

Some of these people just make you want to run from them. Which is ironic, given that all they want is to be…