Starting any kind of new venture can be stimulating, nerve-wracking, scary, exciting, daunting, overwhelming and many other adjectives that we may choose to apply, but the one thing that it’s not likely to be (particularly in the long-term) is easy. For this reason, it’s always beneficial to have support from our families and friends.
Support can be in many forms, like being given the time and space necessary to learn what we need to know, encouragement to keep going when things aren’t progressing as well as we’d hoped, maybe a ‘sounding board’ for when we just need to let off some frustration, or someone to share our successes with when things are going well!
But unfortunately, support for our goals isn’t always forthcoming, especially in the early days. In fact, quite often what we experience is the opposite.
How often have you been excited to embark on a new goal or project only to be discouraged by those you thought would share your excitement with you? Unfortunately this experience is very common. In fact, a lot of people seem to take delight in attempting to stop others pursuing their dreams and we have a whole array of words to describe these people: they are the Debbie-Downers, the Naysayers, the Pessimists, the Redlighters, and the Doubting Thomas(es)…
Sometimes their reactions can be hurtful, but before judging their response as an attempt to hold us back, let’s take a look at some of the reasons why they might react negatively to our plans.
They might think you will change
Some of your friends and family might have a subconscious fear that you might change, and if you change, you might not like them anymore, or they might not like you! Well, it’s inevitable that if you continue to pursue your goals, you will change. How could this possibly not be the case? If you diet, you will lose weight, if you study, you will learn more, if you buy a house, your financial commitments will change, if you have a child, your time commitments will be different. In other words, either you will have changed directly or you will be changed as a result of your changed circumstances. [Read more…] about Dealing with Negative People