An Unexpected Bit of Kindness // A Bibliosmile Guest Post by Kelly

Welcome to The Bibliosmile Project, a series here on Novels & Waffles that aims to spotlight how books (+ the bookish community), has brought smiles, happiness, and positivity into our lives. Through an ongoing series of guest posts, different readers will share their stories of bookish happiness and spread some much-needed positivity, sunshine, and smiles with us all. Hopefully, reading about how books have brought a smile to their faces, it will bring one to yours as well. You can read more about this series in my introduction and catch up on previous guest posts here.

If you’re interested in writing a guest post as part of The Bibliosmile Project, then please contact me at my email, [email protected].

Kelly’s Bibliosmile Story

Hi everyone! My name is Kelly and I write about books, blogging, and everything in between at Another Book in the Wall. I’m so honored to be participating in the Bibliosmile series! I think this is such a wonderful initiative, so thank you for inviting me to write a post, Kat! Today, I want to talk about a time when I received some unexpected kindness from a blogger, when I least expected it.

I’ve been blogging for nearly two years now (wow, time certainly does fly by!), and have met so many incredible individuals in the process! This community truly is lovely, and I never imagined I would become great friends with so many fellow bookworms! On my blog, I share an assortment of posts, ranging from recommendation lists, to book reviews, to discussions. My favorite of these were always the discussion posts, since I find it fascinating to hear all the unique perspectives others have on various topics!

From these posts, I mostly received kind and respectful comments, which was always a blessing! For as long as I can remember, I’ve had a fear of disappointing others. So, it made me feel really loved whenever others would cordially share in these discussions with me! Unfortunately, last November I wrote a post that wasn’t received well by my audience. In retrospect, I should’ve been clearer about what points I was trying to bring up. If I had done this, perhaps I would’ve prevented what followed.

A few readers had regretfully misinterpreted my words and proceeded to share their opinions of me and my post on Twitter. These soon went viral, and before long, I was receiving awful comments, messages, and tweets alike. Most of these negative words weren’t even directed at my post, but instead at me, and my value as a person. And, this hurt. It hurt far more than I wanted to admit. Unsure with what to do, I temporarily logged out of all my accounts, hoping that everything would dissipate in a day or two. When I checked back in, things were progressively becoming worse.

My mental health was steadily sinking, but before I hit the bottom, I noticed an unread message in my email. After a bit of hesitation, I opened it … and started to cry. Friends, in this email, I received the kindest few paragraphs I had seen in a long time. It was from someone I had never interacted with before, and yet, it meant the world to me. She told me that she read my post, and even though she didn’t entirely agree with what I said, she sincerely appreciated the grace and respect I had been showing others in the comment sections. She asked if I was doing alright, having received some hurtful comments, and shared some other kind words with me.

I felt seen and loved, and I will never forget how much her words warmed my heart. She showed me that there truly is some good in this world, and it’s worth fighting for. Don’t get me wrong, I love this blogging community so much, and I wouldn’t give it away for the world! This experience merely opened my eyes and showed me that I need to be more diligent with how I phrase certain topics. No one wants to feel hurt, so it’s important to tackle matters with the utmost respect and compassion. Above all else, I realized that even through the misty haze of negativity, kindness shines through. A few sweet words can mean more than you ever expect!

The lovely individual I mentioned above is named Kate, and she blogs over at All the Trinkets! She’s fairly active in the reading community on Twitter and focuses on spreading creativity and motivation on her blog! You should all absolutely check out everything this doll writes! I can assure you that she’s responsible for so many smiles I’ve had during my time of blogging! Thanks again to my favorite waffle-loving bookworm, Kat, for inviting me to participate in this amazing project!

Kelly’s Blog Kelly’s Instagram Kelly’s Twitter Kelly’s Goodreads Kelly’s Pinterest

Have you ever been uplifted by “a few sweet words” like Kelly was?

How have people in the blogging community helped you?

How can we, as a community, be more kind to others? Share you thoughts in the comments!