“Assuredly, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country.”-Luke 4:24
Your closest friends and family are going to listen to you the least. It was as true when Jesus uttered these words in Luke chapter four as it is today. The question we naturally ask is “Why?”
I believe it is because those closest to you, who have spent years around you, have become so familiar with you that they can’t actually “see” you very well. I mean of course in a deeper sense. They formed their basic perspective on you years ago and tend to see you from this lens. This is good in many ways and is part of their comfort with you and also why they enjoy being with you.
Where it becomes a draw-back is when you step out and make a positive change or pursue a new interest. Because this thing, whatever it is, doesn’t fit in the box that they have you in. If this new endeavor is something you try to share with them, they cannot hear you about it…because they cannot reconcile in their mind YOU and this new thing.
I see this in my business all the time. Someone gets started in being healthier and also to improve the quality of their life by creating an income stream. They share it with their friends and family, which they should do because it will benefit them if they can “see” it, and many of these people cannot hear them (What makes you a sudden prophet?)
This would be the case with anything. It has certainly been true for me. But I learned years ago to let them keep their limited and closed thinking, and just smile and continue forward and I just model the thing I speak about. Over time, their eyes, will force their ears to open, provided you don’t let their closed minds hold you down.
So whatever you are passionate about or pursuing, tell everyone. The ones that don’t agree with you now, give them a smile and politely keep going. Sooner or later, as long as you keep doing what you said you were going to do, they will see that things are getting better for you. This will open their ears a little further for the next time you bring up the subject, and in many cases it will attract them back to you.
