In October 2022, I was in a very very low state of mind and I have posted this message on my main Facebook page:
"It has been a while. I haven't shared/posted anything here since May. Honestly, I am still trying to figure out what to do with this page, the blog, the YouTube channel, everything...
At one point at the start of 2022 I lost my excitement for this project all together. It was a combination of my personal life and the fact that this page got over 90k followers. I felt completely overwhelmed. Well, the number didn't really scare me because I never actually cared about it. I just wanted to share my love of mathematics and my journey of learning and teaching it. But when there are so many people following one page, it becomes impossible to please everyone. Stupidly, I was shocked that something like this could happen on a page about mathematics.
It started with people asking why I am sharing about this or that mathematician and then it slowly escalated to comments about my own personality. I also started to get comments about being a woman & doing math and (surprisingly) my birth place. I have worked really hard to not pay attention to these things and move on. But there was that much I could take. In March I wanted to delete the page and all the other social media accounts related to it. Someone told me not to do it because I have put to much work into everything. So, I took a break... I checked again things around May, but the comments did not stop even after not posting consistently from March to May. From May I stopped posting and checking everything. I just stopped, I couldn't do this...
Honestly, I still don't know what to do next. I am still figuring things out. The thing is... I am missing working at this, I really do. I miss doing research and learning new things. I really miss it...
Right now I am in the process of rethinking my approach altogether. I don't want to give up, I need to find a solution.
Before I go, a couple of things about myself. I am Ioana (with an i), I was born in Romania and I moved to Scotland (more than 11 years ago). I am a woman and I teach mathematics. I have always loved mathematics and I still do!
Have a wonderful day! Keep loving maths!"
I have received a lot of wonderful messages and so many of you encourged me to continue sharing my love of mathematics. I wanted a more personal space, a more private environment for us to share our love of mathematics. So, I have re-activated this page after around 2 and a half years of no activity. I have set the monthly subscription of $1 to make it more affordable to everyone and no other tiers will be set. I will be sharing more about my experiences of learning and teaching mathematics, historical aspects, my plans for future projects and much more in there.
Thank you for all your help! Have a wonderful day! Keep loving maths!