Sometimes we explain things not because we want the the person to agree with us or to change their mind but instead because we want to feel understood. We want to feel as though we don’t have to be like the other person or change ourselves in order to be accepted.
But some people are set in their ways, it really is their way or the high way and so no matter how much you try to explain, it really makes no difference.
In those situations there’s very little value in trying to be heard or validated because the other person doesn’t have the capacity. At times we may feel like we need to try harder or explain more however, more often than not we just end up frustrated and feeling dismissed.
We’re much better off validating our own feelings and agreeing to disagree with the other person.
One thing I’ve learnt is that with some people you could try 101 ways and they will still not understand you because they don’t want to. They have the binary perspective of them being right and you being wrong so they aren’t open to accepting anything that doesn’t align with that.
The Daily Gemm 