I had some gamma douchebag trolling me on my YouTube channel yesterday. Which turned into a post on not feeding the trolls and got me to thinking back to my karate training days.
The head honcho, founder of the schools I trained in, and Sensei to my teacher at McMaster, was many things, one of which was an entrepreneur. He rode the 80s and 90s martial arts wave to a small fortune.
Which he lost, and then rebuilt, if memory serves. One time when a friend of mine was going through a bad patch, tried to comfort her saying, “Don’t worry, last year I lost a million dollars,” or words to that effect.
I attended his black belt training for several years, and his stories taught about so much more than karate; hard work, discipline, success, etc.
Remember this is a man who made and lost millions, when I say that one of the most profound things he taught me is,
There are two great rules in life. First, don’t sweat the small stuff. Second, it’s all small stuff.
Yesterday’s little troll incident brought this to mind.
There was a time when I would think I had to engage, to argue, to educate, to browbeat him into submission. To make him admit he didn’t know what he was talking about. I would fuss and brood over it. I’d let him get under my skin, but what is the opinion of an anonymous shit head really worth?
Nothing.
So now, just as Sensei W. advised, all those years ago, I don’t sweat it.
Because in the realms of small stuff, the opinion of a troll is very small, indeed, and not sweating it is so much better for my mental health.
