How It Sometimes Feels To Hit the Publish Button

Why do my palms suddenly feel damp…

You’ve read and re-read the piece. The story is watertight. Impenetrable. Signed, sealed, ready to be delivered?

Your cursor hovers closer to the Publish-button. Sweat drops start to clump together on your forehead. The first one falls onto your keyboard.

No troll has come after you — yet.

Does that mean you aren’t yet “successful” enough to be ambushed online? Maybe. Maybe you’re also jinxing it by mentioning the T-word!

You stare down the Publish-button again like a cheetah, about to sink its teeth in its prey’s rear flanks.

Doubt arises. Are you hunting an impala or a gazelle? Will you be able to fend off the herd? Is this the best spot to go for the kill? The question-train in your mind makes the so-manieth loop:

• Are you outing yourself as a whiny little beach by expressing your thoughts on topic X?
• Are you trying to shift the blame of event Y on external factors instead of looking at the situation objectively to figure out where you went wrong?
• Were you in the wrong?
• Are you being honest? How honest are you?
• Should you go into more depth…