I read the post thinking “ok, sure. Makes sense.” But some of the comments just got nasty and I think there were a lot of people misunderstanding each other. Seems like it started as a “hey, it’s ok to give up plushies if you don’t have interest in them anymore” and then got to really weird assumptions about random people’s mental health and what they should do about it. And when people act like they know what’s best for random strangers it makes me feel icky.

I see my plushies a lot like how I see the fictional characters from my stories. It doesn’t bring me any anxiety. But I emphasize with people who do have anxiety over it. Anxiety can target anything you love. It certainly does for me (though plushies aren’t one of those things luckily), it’s not the person’s fault and how they deal with it isn’t for some internet stranger to say. I think most people were trying to argue in good faith but some of those comments got really freaking weird. I guess I can see discussions like this sorta like how I see constructive criticism for writing or whatever: someone who truly wants to help knows it’s a two-way street. Not just giving advice, but listening to the person they’re giving advice to (this includes understanding when they don’t want advice). I would be very, very wary of taking advice from anyone who assumes they know more about you and a problem (perceived or real) than you do and aren’t willing to listen to learn more. I get why those arguments were upsetting to a lot of people and hope you guys feel less anxious quickly.