Hard to let go of things, sometimes

I left my abusive marriage a little more than three years ago, and was diagnosed with PTSD a year later. I've been doing pretty okay, but I'm here today because of one thing that happened this morning that really upset me, and I just hate that it's ruining my whole day! I was on another message board about politics, and this guy who is always a real jerk, anyway, over-reacted when I disagreed with him about something. He said, "...you're a gadfly. You should be swatted like a gnat. I'm not surprised you were in an abusive relationship. Who can blame a man for cuffing an annoying twit like you? Now shoo." When someone else posted and told him he was rude for saying that, he responded in classic abuser style and accused me of "attacking" him first, and said other things just upping the ante.

Now, I already know from this guy's past behavior that he shows all the classic signs of being an abuser. He's manipulative, controlling, rude, never apologizes, doesn't tolerate being disagreed with, etc. AND IT MAKES ME SO ANGRY! He gets away with just spewing anonymous hateful crap like that, and worse. Why does he have to run in to ME and ruin MY day?

Sorry, just venting, I guess. I'm glad I found this forum.

I know those types of people I've been around them as well.

I think it's best to stay away from him because he is triggering.

Stay away from his posts on that board and just ignore him the best you can.

You will get people like that...

mariscos, I know how you feel because this has also happened to me on other boards. There just seems to be certain people who go to boards and immerse themselves in the anonymity which they then use to abuse people through confrontation and name calling because they feel too powerless and inadequate to do it in person face to face. The boards seem full of these types and if you frequent boards, your going to run into them or many of them at some time.

The best thing is to just not return, at least for awhile. Things dont seem to be as important anymore when you remove yourself from the situation for awhile. I know that I struggle with this all of the time because of my anger problem. I know first hand what its like to not be able to let something go. I found that when you keep going back to it, your really just pinching your own self with it and eventually your going to do something about it and this in turn will cause it to start up all over again and you will never be free of it.

Find another board or just stay away from that one for a long while, long enough to where what happened doesnt bother you anymore and you can see it for what it truly is.

Keep in mind that people on boards dont know you in reality so whatever they say about you, just doesnt count. Move away from it, you have much more going on in your life than what this person said. Good luck on those boards...

Excellent advice from the previous respondent, and I agree fully.

I would add that it might be useful for you to use some of the Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy techniques first put forward by Albert Ellis. If you are familiar with this REBT, Google it and you'll find tons of information. It can be really helpful with this type of thing.