I’m the same amount of friendly online as in real life. I’ve learned to keep the fullness of my opinion on controversial stuff to myself because I would rather have peace than to make a point.

I try to make sure my life is a blessing, instead of a burden, which helps me defend against rejection.

Never making the first move is a great defense against rejection. Unfortunately, people expect me to make the first move, because they’re afraid of rejection themselves. The outcome is not that hard to guess… Well, that’s all you can do when your ability to deal with rejection is the same as your ability to digest arsenic. Yeah, Chiron and Saturn in Pisces, of course.

I try to mitigate rejection by remembering that I am not in control of someone else’s feelings. They are free to think and do as they please. If they don’t like me then I must accept that fact and move on. My best friend always told me that I can change no one but myself. I didn’t like hearing that but at the same time it frees me not to fret over what others think.

I am friendly in general, but do kind of expect that everyone will hate me sooner or later. God knows I give good reasons to.

Wow, that is really interesting. I wonder about the astrology of the Internet. Maybe it’s an 11th house thing?

Saturn in Virgo revolutionized how I deal with rejection. Now I try very consciously to look at situations from both perspectives, learn from my mistakes, not allow someone else’s opinion of me to become mine, and then move on. With so much Leo this was a difficult thing to learn, accepting my and others’ human frailty, but my Asc progressed into Virgo at the same time Saturn ran over it, and it really became a cornerstone of my personality, something I rely on to make it through the tough times. It’s pretty hard to attack me when I am centered in this perspective. People still try, but it doesn’t get me down for very long at all. Humility isn’t an easy practice but it can be powerful.

The first thing I thought as I was reading Elsa’s post was “online, people are not seeing us directly…they can’t pick up on all the social cues and subtle ways we communicate in person”. Writing is black and white, either/or. And to me, it’s very restrictive to discuss hot-button issues when there isn’t an easy give and take interaction.

For me, I deal with rejection all the time and have had to learn to value, nurture and accept myself on my own. I used to accept other people’s opinion of me as The Truth. Even when I didn’t agree. My take on it was, “if this is what everyone is seeing, it must be so”. I did not trust myself. Now, I try to incorporate the various rejections or acceptances and come to a conclusion of the truth. But I never reject myself anymore. I leave the disapprovers.