Why does nobody talk about how exhausting faking it at family dinners is

I spent 3 hours at my aunt's house last Sunday smiling through questions about my business when I was actually one bad day away from closing the shop. The shift happened when my cousin let slip she lost her job 2 months ago and everyone just nodded like it was normal. Has anyone else realized that pretending everything is fine actually makes the loneliness worse?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_anthony1mo ago

The fake nod is the worst part, everyone just agrees to ignore the elephant in the room. My cousin pulled the same thing at Thanksgiving, lost her job three months ago and the whole table just moved on to dessert like nothing happened. Makes you wonder if anyone actually cares or if we're all just performing for each other lol.

hannah4001mo ago

Right, because nothing says caring like silently passing the mashed potatoes.

cora5181mo ago

Watch how people handle ANY awkward situation and it's the same pattern - we treat discomfort like it's catching, so we'd rather Pretend everything's fine than sit with someone's pain for two minutes. It's like we've all agreed that being polite means never actually showing up for each other in Real ways. Makes you realize half of what we call "being nice" is just avoiding having to feel anything uncomfortable.