3 Sad Truths About People Who Don’t Believe in You
They don’t believe in themselves.
Someone’s always going to try and put a damper on your joy — especially if you’re just now finding it.
All the criticism you get for following your dreams doesn’t make sense. Instead of sitting in silence, people want to feed off the morsels of your own failure. Every parasite needs a host.
If I listened to the people around me, I wouldn’t have gotten anywhere near the level I’m at now. I figured out how to deal with the negative Nancy’s by learning these three sad truths.
Learn these so you can stay away from the bullcrap.
Someone or something completely crushed their motivation in the past.
A giant must’ve crushed the seeds of their beanstalk early on.
It’s kind of depressing. While I’m fortunate enough to have supportive people in my circle, some of them are just plain rude. Every time I talk about my endless love for writing, I get shut down on sight.
I remember some family members would make fun of me because I didn’t make any money for a couple of months.
My sister should understand more than me how crappy it is to laugh at people for pursuing their passion. Heck, our parents pushed us to be engineers when we grew up. That never happened. She still makes fun of me sometimes for pursuing writing while she dropped her physics major for foreign languages. That job isn’t one of the golden professions either but okay.
My point here is that people can be so beat down and ingrained in the system, that they don’t even notice that they’re breaking the rules at the same time.
They’ll never see potential in you unless you “prove yourself.” Speaking of that…
Every time you prove them wrong, they’ll never think it’s good enough.
I’ve given up on trying to prove people wrong ages ago.
Writing earnings fluctuate so it shouldn’t be a surprise that I’m not making the exact amount I made last month. But these people seem to think that an internet job is a minimum wage job at Starbucks or something. So whenever you tell them a monetary number that isn’t as big as the last one, they get into “I told you so” mode very fast.
“Damn, it’s still dropping? You must be doing something wrong!”
No, I’m not doing anything wrong. Did anyone ever tell you about patience?
Don’t tell these people your earnings. One day they get hyped that you proved them wrong then they’re wagging their finger at you the next. You can’t win for losing.
No matter what you do, they’ll never see your passion as legitimate anyways.
They’re addicted to prestige, no matter how much they claim they don’t care.
These are the traditional people who want to live life the “right” way.
I can’t tell you how many times my sister said she still wants to go to Harvard. I mean, I’m rooting for her, but she just told me that she only wants to get in so she can tell people she went there. I don’t understand.
I used to be on the prestige bandwagon myself. As I started working on my writing more, I didn’t value that stuff anymore. Writing is such a lucrative profession that banking on prestige sets you up for failure.
When I tell you these people are addicted to prestige — they are addicted. It’s like they refuse to see the bigger picture because they’re so wrapped up in the idea of them winning something with critical acclaim.
All of those prestigious things are just stepping stones.
I’m not focused on a short-term stepping stone. I’m focused on my end-goal. And that end-goal doesn’t stop at views or money.
Final Thoughts
“Negative Nancy’s need a hug” should be the advertisement of this article.
They’re so beat down and attached to the system that they can’t imagine someone getting paid for something outlandish. Every time you prove them wrong, it’ll never be good enough for them and they’re coo-coo for prestige.
You don’t need that negativity in your space.
You deserve better — and you will succeed.
Trust me.
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