We’ve all got people in our lives that seem to want the best for us but discourage us nonetheless. Referred to here as naysayers, these people fully intend to help us by expressing their doubts in our dreams, but in reality, they are simply feeding our inner feelings of doubt.
These naysayers often come in the form of a teacher who has not been exposed to the type of success that you envision.
Or your mother who is in an abusive relationship herself, and can’t see your vision for marriage and a family.
A spouse might only see the benefit and security of a 9 to 5, and unintentionally damage your dreams.
A best friend might not think it’s possible for you to live in another country because they can’t and therefore they will feed your insecurities.
Dealing with these naysayers are a lot more challenging than dealing with people who don’t know you. After all, you could care less about the opinions of people you don’t know; it’s the people that you do know that can cause the most harm when they feed your self doubt.
These tips can certainly help you to get back on the right track when well-meaning loved ones detour you.
You are free to limit yourself from negative people as much as possible. This looks like many different ways for different people. Sometimes, you can just avoid being around naysayers at all cost.
Other times, you can limit the types of conversations that you have with them. For instance, if your mother is a Debbie downer on the relationship that you have with your new partner, just don’t share those details with your mother. That way, you can preserve your relationship with your parents while avoiding the negative consequences of being with your parent.
Ignore them. People can only do what you allow them to continue to do. If you ignore the negative energy, it takes away the power of it to cause you harm. You literally have permission to look at them with a blank stare as an indicator that you’re not receiving what it is that they’re giving at this time.
Say “thanks, but no thanks. This is helpful if you want to go about it the polite way. You can express appreciation for their concerns but be transparent about your lack of desire to go along with your suggestions.
Feel free to acknowledge them and do what you want to do anyway. Just because the person is important to you, doesn’t mean that you have to do what they want. You also don’t owe anybody any explanations. If you don’t want to do what they ask, simply don’t. You have that right no matter how they try to make you feel differently.
Take what you can and leave the rest alone. Most likely, the naysayers does mean well, they just can’t see what it is that you see. And maybe they never will. The important thing is that you see it and hold strong to whatever it is that you see. Also, take the persons intentions into consideration, without necessarily taking their directives. If you feel slighted by their suggestions, remember that it’s coming from a place of protection and focus your energy on that as opposed to how it makes you feel when they don’t understand your vision.
Overall, life can be hard enough. Almost anything that we experience that is negative in life, can prevent us from making progress. Most of the time, people in our lives try to protect us even to a fault. Sometimes, those naysayers can be more overwhelming than the pressure to pursue our dreams. If you need help dealing with naysayers, help is available to you today.