Sometimes I choose to disengage. When there is a fundamental disagreement of perspectives and worldviews.
When there is a clear clash of sensibilities. When there is no effort made to find even the smallest points of shared understanding.
Those types of discussions never end well. In fact, are they even discussions?
Two battling rams butting heads over and over again hoping that your opponent's skull will crack while yours remains intact.
And we're not even wearing helmets! No thanks.
It's not worth it. The mental energy. The psychological burden. The intellectual bandwidth.
It's exhausting, depleting, draining the strength I could be using to drive impact and affect change.
Many people disagree with me. Some fundamentally; some subtly. Some with my approach. Or my writing style. Or my world view.
I'm comfortable with that. I'm not here to convince people I'm right. I'm here to share stories, perspectives, learnings, ideas, insights, experiences – with the hope of inspiring and connecting and uplifting underrepresented voices.
Challenging the status quo. Disrupting the dominant narrative.
I'm also here to learn from others, to be challenged, to change, to expand, to explore, to discover new perspectives.
And practicing self-empathy. By picking my battles.