Memes

Thats sucks that they do that to you, and I know that pain you feel when it happens.

But I'm going to ask you a question I wish someone had asked me a long time ago: Have you considered that maybe you're boring? There's no shame in that, no judgement intended.

You have interests, and they are interesting to you. The vast majority of people would not find anything about you interesting, and you're blessed with a family that loves you enough to ask how you are. Your response is to start with a home loan? Is your house project super interesting? Are you putting in a fireman's pole or a hot tub? The minutiae of reflooring a rumpus room is fascinating to the person who owns the rumpus room and exactly no one else.

Your sister asked what's going on in your life because she's curious about you. You can tell the same story in a way that relates it to her experience by starting with emotions.

"How am I? I'm stressed, but really excited. This house project has been driving me nuts, but I will be so glad when it's over. I could actually use your opinion on a paint color, because I want to have a splash of something fun, but everybody is saying to go neutral for resale value. What do you think?"

It's the same conversation topic, but it's not about the project anymore. It's about you and how you're feeling and how she can relate to you.

Think about the story you're going to tell, and try to think about your audience. I built a home automation server and was really excited about all the cool things I can do with it. When I geek out about it, though, people run for the hills. So when people ask what I'm into, I skip right to the good stuff.

You know why people love magic tricks? Because they don't know the details. Their minds fill in the gaps of their knowledge with actual magic. The cardinal rule of magicians is to never reveal the secret. If you show them that you palmed the coin and forced the card and the girl's legs are curled up under the base of the box, they lose interest before you're done speaking.

Telling someone about the details of your interests is like explaining how to do a magic trick they've never seen before. When you got into your interests, you didn't start with "How do I get a home loan to do this?" You got interested in the magic part, and then worked backwards to figure it out.

I don't mean to harp on that example, because I know that was just one example that one time. But you're describing a common behavior pattern that so many people don't even realize they fall into. Ask a kid about Pokemon, and they will dive into their favorites, and why this one is better than that one unless you get a shiny egg, and I got a shiny once but when it hatched it was just another Pidgey so I sold it to a friend who has a sister that just started out and he gives her all the shinies he doesn't care about because she just likes having more Pokemon.

They will never mention how much fun it is to keep fighting elemental sentient animal slaves that ejaculate from balls you keep in your pockets to do battle for you.

Edit your stories like a journalist writes an article. Grab them with a headline, and frontload the interesting bullet points. The longer into the story you get, the more detail you can share, but expect your audience to lose interest two paragraphs in. If someone stops listening before the juicy bits, you've told it wrong.

Maybe you didn't need to read all this. Maybe you're not boring, and your family really is entirely responsible for not giving a shit about you. Acknowledging that you could become a better storyteller doesn't absolve them of their apathy towards you. But I know I have a habit of being boring, and I wish someone had given me this advice years ago.