The Fedi/Mastodon is revelatory, I love it, but the emotional weight is greater and very different.

Honesty is powerful. I'm not even going to talk about Instagram or Facebook, but Twitter was/is a combative place, even if you are passive. Here it's completely different, many people are very open, myself included to a degree, which is refreshing and a welcome humanising of social media, but with that comes with it's own challenges.

I care about people. People share their physical, emotional and psychological struggles here. I empathise, I try to understand and support folks as best I can with my level of understanding. It's a lot though. I'm out of my depth frequently, I want to help but don't have a clue how to, and don't want to say something stupid or insensitive, no matter how well intentioned. But at the same time, I don't want to stay silent, because I want you to know I care.

Often a "like/⭐" means I hear you but have no useful words. It feels lame, but it's probably better than what my awkward brain will come up with as a reply.

An exchange in the last couple of days touched me. I mentioned it to Mrs B and as I read one message out my chin went, my voice broke and my eyes filled.

It's different here, but it's a new (but much better) set of challenges.

Bless you all lovely Fedifolk ❤️