Thanks for the tag and welcome to the world of being outspoken on Medium. It's fun. And you're right, I don't generally feel fear when I log onto Medium.

Am a fan of Stoicism and it's worth considering what's in your control and what's not. I can't control what people think about me or my work. I can just show up and write. If people hate it (or me) that's their issue to deal with and not mine.

People do occasionally get under my skin - there are particular penguin buttons that can be pushed... but if someone comes in with an insult or a harsh word they normally get a polite response. That's because everyone who reads their comment and my response can see who behaved like the twat and make an appropriate decision about our relative positions. Often I give people a chance to reconsider their original comment (and many people do).

I'd say, don't worry about getting feelings about people being nasty about you. If you know it's going to happen, take a step away and consider not giving them the satisfaction of being rattled. I am not the same as my ideas. An attack on my writing is not an attack on my person - and then model the sort of discussion you want when you make your reply. You'd be surprised how often it works.

And tbf how often it doesnt, if they've been a twat twice or three times, I either ignore them or I switch to sarcasm mode for my own amusement. That brings me a huge amount of joy - because I'm snarky as hell when I want to be. Never mean. Never personal. But deeply sarcastic and whimsical.

Good to see you popping up and thanks for the tag. Hope your Medium journey is turning out the way you hoped it would. :o)