The English Aromatherapist

Opinions…everyone’s got one, right?

 

The internet is wonderful, but at times it can be rather like a playground full of people shouting at each other.

 

Thanks to blogging sites and social media, anyone can get online and share their thoughts and opinions with the world.

 

On many levels, this is great. The obvious downside is that we end up with a LOT of rubbish. It’s up to us to wade through and filter out the good stuff.

 

The other downside is this: with free speech comes the potential for people to be offended. And, believe me, people can (and will) be offended by ANYTHING.

 

What happens in real life if we don’t like someone? In general, we tend to avoid them. In general, we don’t tend to approach a complete stranger to start a fight.

 

What happens online if we don’t like someone? Well, the rules are different! We become keyboard warriors, writing nasty comments from behind the safety of our computer screens.

 

Trolling

 

Most bloggers will experience trolling at some point. Since I started this blog in 2016, I’ve certainly had my fair share of vitriolic comments and negative feedback. You might think the aromatherapy community is a bunch of caring, sharing, peace-loving folk – sadly, it’s far from it!

 

Some people have asked me if I’m upset by nasty comments. Honestly, it doesn’t bother me. And I’m very grateful to say the negative comments are far outweighed by messages of appreciation and support!

 

In my case, the comments are usually “You’re wrong!” and “You don’t know what you’re talking about!”.

 

Most of the negative feedback I receive is from the “MLM gang”. I didn’t invent this divide – those brands chose to break away from the guidelines of the professional aromatherapy industry. It’s created a situation that has become very “us against them”, which is sad.

 

Why I don’t care

 

I chose to speak out about some of the advice I was seeing online, which I felt was unsafe, inaccurate and potentially dangerous. These are my opinions, and I’m not stopping anyone from going ahead and doing what they want to do. If you want to drink essential oils all day long, that’s entirely up to you. I’m just here to share my information, in order to balance out the argument. As I always say, people can listen to both sides and then make up their own minds.

 

If you’re going to put yourself out there online, you have to expect some flak. Whatever you’re talking about, you’re going to upset someone somewhere. Any topic that’s remotely interesting will attract diversity of opinion.

 

What is trolling, and what’s just people sharing their opinion? There’s a difference between people chipping in with their point of view, and people who are just posting malicious comments for no reason.

 

If you scroll to the end of this article, you’ll see some examples of negative comments I’ve received (mainly from YouTube). To be honest, I’ve only included them for entertainment value, because most of them are pretty funny. Much of the nastiness comes from people who are defending their own theories on aromatherapy, and I’m sure some of them genuinely think they are just enlightening me with the “truth”.

 

Plus, most of the mean comments are written in truly terrible English. I mean, if you can’t put a coherent sentence together, you’re not really coming across as the more intelligent person, are you? Most of the comments are actually pretty hilarious and give me a good laugh!

 

I don’t consider myself to be an aromatherapy expert, nor have I ever claimed to know everything. I am learning all the time, and certainly do not expect to be seen as the only valid source of information (read more: Why There is No Single Source).

 

It’s interesting to hear the perspectives of other people, even if I disagree. It’s important to consider other opinions, as this helps to grow and evolve our knowledge. Whatever the subject, it’s always good to be open-minded.

 

My advice for bloggers

 

If you’re a blogger, don’t let nasty comments put you off from sharing your thoughts. You’re never going to please everyone.

 

It’s also worth remembering that not all negative comments are necessarily “nasty”. Sometimes people are just offering constructive criticism or trying to share information. Tone is easily misinterpreted online (particularly cross-culturally) so it’s important not to take comments personally, nor assume they’re being rude.

 

Some comments I’ve received… 

 

So here are some of the gems I’ve had on my blog and YouTube channel (unedited – warning, contains offensive language!)

 

• You are ridiculous and a liar

 

• Blonde bimbos, the world is full of them

 

• As an RN this is the worst article I have ever read

 

• You obviously are not fully qualified and informed regarding science and EOs to make such a false and inaccurate video

 

• So sad that you are so misinformed

 

• Being an aromatherapist does not make you an expert on essential oils

 

• these videos are useless. You’re better off avoiding any videos or articles that are like this which only scare you with bullshit and instead going on forums where people share their experiences

 

• That was a lot of classic negative jealous energy. Perhaps you need this therapy to lighten up

 

• give real proof for your accusations…Get a life

 

• she needs togo back to school

 

• wow uneducation and lack of research at its finest on her part.

 

• Please leave. Your misinformation is not wanted here

 

• Mindless drivel being posted on the internet as usual

 

• You aren’t American either so how do you know what the Lakota Indians did

 

• i did my own research. get yours too please

 

• Your information in this video is false information all around. I hope that in the future before you go online to slander anyone that you do your research more thoroughly

 

• hugely disillusioned and uninformed. I find her entire video ridiculous

 

• You don’t know what you are talking about

 

• If you don’t live here and don’t know what you are talking about it’s better to not comment on the US

 

• Girl – their is an oil for your negativity

 

• you are wrong ,raindrop healed completely my spine

 

• You obviously have NO idea on energetic sciences

 

• Bitch shut the fuck up

 

• don’t talk about something you don’t really know about

 

• I think you just kicked out from the YL that is why you are bitter to YL. And you are already in the dottera opposite of YL

 

• Please do your research. You are advising people to make choices that are dangerous for their health.

 

• I hope your tactic to use old outdated false claims … back fires on what I consider to be a PLOY to boost your visibility for ‘you tube subscriptions’!

 

• I find it amusing how some ”aromatherapists”, issue they own opinion without knowing what they are talkig about

 

• Interesting to know when you lose out the market share, you resort to such time wasting recording. Might as well spend more time to get more holistic and positive with your thoughts than to be a critic. I notice all who agreed with you are equally profit seeking to pull customer in your unethical way. Not sure if you have benefit yourself using your own oils to heal your emotions then too.

 

• Stick to what you think you know how about you follow it with some background work, just in case you don’t understand background find people who agree to your theory not just where you live all around the world. So you have had your more than 15 minuets of fame congratulations.

 

As you can see, most of the comments are from people who are not demonstrating a high level of intelligence. While I take all feedback on board, it’s not going to keep me up at night and I will continue to share what I believe is safe, honest advice about aromatherapy.

 

What to read next: Top 10 Ingestion Myths

 

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