Image by Keegan Houser — https://unsplash.com/photos/-Q_t4SCN8c4

Over the past year, I’ve poured a significant amount of my time and energy into a wellbeing application focused on allowing people to better understand themselves and live their lives based on what it is that they want. And after launching a month ago, I’ve received significant validation from early users that it is indeed helping a number of them to live more fulfilled lives (hell yeah!)

Something which had deeply upset me, though, was the fact that many of closest friends would tell me that they’d try it out and never got around to it (despite a few reminders) and that when I sent screenshots to my nuclear family and asked what they thought, that they would respond with ‘Good job!’ and never actually give any thoughtful feedback.

This sort of response from friends and family was incredibly invalidating to me as this work has become very much a part of my identity, at this point.

I now realize that their disinterest in what I’m doing has nothing to do with their love towards me — they love me just fine, it’s just what I’m doing doesn’t resonate with them. They’ll ask me about it because they’re interested in my life and care about me, but the fact is that it just isn’t their thing — and that’s something that I need to respect.

I know this seems pretty obvious, but when you’re really passionate about something and the people who you care most for don’t share your enthusiasm for it, it can really deal a blow to your identity. And attempting to get them to share your perspective can come off as annoying, arrogant, etc…

So, if you’re passionate about something and someone close to you doesn’t share your perspective, that’s okay! It doesn’t mean that they love you any less, just that you value different things. And attempting to win them over to your way of thinking can serve to actually damage a relationship, so, if they aren’t really interested — don’t push it.