Seablue Journal: Asking Friends and Family if they are interested in Steemit.

It has been an interesting day today as I approached some friends and family about whether they might be interested in Steemit.

I knew that there is an inherent resistance in people to believe, and that some things seem just too good to be true. I can appreciate that, and I think it is a healthy skepticism.

The thing that is probably the most revealing to myself is my own internal reaction. It hurts! It is not an easy pain to bear. So I reflected a bit on that today.

To put this reflection into perspective, first let me tell you about my trip out to pay a bill. I have a habit of asking people if they know about cryptocurrency these days. I'm fishing for interest all the time. I stopped by the cigar store and ran it by the owner of the store as he was processing my order on the register. I could see the glazed look of disbelief in his eyes and the hesitancy in his speech. It took me two seconds to decide that this guy was not worth talking to. He wasn't ready to hear.

So I got to the local personal finance office to make an overdue payment on my loan. I walk in and it is pretty quiet in the office and enquire about whether they have heard of cryptocurrency. They haven't. Have they heard of Bitcoin? They haven't. So I start telling them my story. Within about 2 minutes I've got them eating out of my hand with enthusiasm for this personal tale. They were excited and jotting down notes about Steemit.com with a sparkle in their eyes and a new zest for life. These people were ready to hear.

I go home afterwards and I'm relating the story to my wife. I know she doesn't want to listen, but she is a captive audience stuck sitting on the toilet bowl, while I'm hanging up my clothes from the dryer. She heads out and I get online and enthused by my success earlier, reconnect to some people on Facebook and throw some information out about what I'm doing. I hit one rejection after another. I start to feel deflated. I'm a little frustrated that people I care about are not interested.

So now I've been reflecting on the whole experience. It was painful for me. I felt they were making a judgement about me. The problem was that I was tying the approval of friends and family to my identity as a person. There rejection wasn't about me, really. It was about them and there readiness to be open to the idea. They are just not ready!

So I turned it around in my head. I have to find out if people are ready to hear first. They are the ones to talk to. They are the ones that are going to get me excited about helping. Even then, it is not about me! It is about them! I'm just the conduit of information. My own personal worth will come from my effectiveness at doing that in the face of some doubt and skepticism. People need to be approached carefully. With some tact. I'm being a bit lazy about that really and feeling hurt about it is the wrong attitude. There rejection is not a rejection of me. It is a signal of their hesitancy to open their minds given the information I have laid out for them. Practice makes perfect though. This is a skill well worth acquiring. I intend to work a little harder on it.

So that is my flow, as @craig-grant would say. I hope you enjoy my story.