Hi Dipti.

My apologies for not making myself a lot clearer in my comment. That was not at all directed at you. I take full responsibility for not making myself very clear. I was making a much broader statement. And yes, culturally, I am a bit spicy in my language, particularly when annoyed. Please accept my apologies. In fact, with the story that began the comment I was making an attempt to be funny. In my neighborhood the dogs are walked so often that they’re going to need splints on their legs.

I’ve removed it. You needed context and you didn’t get it. That’s my fault.

I am increasingly troubled and frustrated by all the “productivity hacks” that have become so invasive and demanding that they have caused considerable anxiety, including when I am trying very hard to be on line and be kept up to date. They have gotten to the point where people in my world, my neighbors and those in my readership have gotten extremely tried of and even angry about them. At some point we have to ask what’s the point? I did put out information about how to deal with this kind of thing. People seem far more interested in reading about how awful things are and sharing how awful it is rather than calming down and doing the work.

One of the side effects is that after just so much of that kind of input, we as readers can get completely stressed out with the pressure and being unable to do anything about it. The WE get angry. I am just as susceptible to this as anyone else, in fact perhaps even more so.

This is what I was referring, Dipti. I have had a history of some 21 concussions, and to your point, too many triggers can cause me severe anxiety and then I can explode. So yes, all of us have those issues, which simply underscores my point about writing about apocalypse and all these other words which can terrorize. You and I wield words, those words have impact. As you quite fairly point out, in your case they had a completely different impact than I had intended because I didn’t take the time to stop, read my response and ask about how it might land. That is a very fair critique.

I hear your point. Please hear mine. We all are carrying something, and when we put out material that can cause further panic, then what we get back is in many ways what we sowed in the first place. This goes for you, for me, for all of us.

What this teaches me is that no matter how good my intentions, no matter if I am trying to be funny or make a joke, or simply expressing an opinion, I have to be far more careful. I appreciate that feedback more than you can know.

I honor your courage in writing me back, and again I take full responsibility for my choice of words. In no way was that comment directed at you, it was a statement of genuine frustration about the state of Medium and the amount of information that has caused a lot of additional anxiety. Please accept my apoloiges. They are most sincere.

I agree with you about Dr Mehmet Yildiz and his intentions. And I’m also doing my best to stay within those guidelines.