Is going no-contact with family a mistake or necessary? | Matt Monday
6/15/202614 min
One of the biggest misconceptions about family estrangement is that people do it lightly. They don't. And for many, the reality is far more painful…
The truth is, most people don't create distance because they stopped caring. They do it after years, sometimes decades or even an entire lifetime, of trying to make the relationship work.
The tragedy of estrangement is that it's often not a choice between connection and distance. It's a choice between preserving a relationship and preserving yourself.
In this episode, I talk about why the growing backlash against estrangement misses that reality, and why what looks like ruthless rejection from the outside is often deep heartbreak on the inside.
If you've ever struggled with the guilt, grief, or bittersweet relief that comes with creating distance from someone you love, I hope this conversation helps you feel less alone.
---
►► Try Matthew AI for 24/7 coaching and advice anytime at AskMH.com
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsMatthew Hussey· Host0:00
[upbeat music] In the last year, I have noticed a troubling trend, a wave of backlash against those who have decided to cut ties with their family. In some cases, separating from family members is being billed as the oversensitive product of a woke culture that made people break up with their families over a difference in values or beliefs. Others have positioned it as running away from doing the work that we need to do in order to be able to handle or even resolve our differences, that the spiritually whole path lies in negotiating the difficulties with that person with a new level of equanimity or even in discovering newfound peace and forgiveness within that relationship. Some of these messages are from truly well-meaning people. Some are from people who have a dangerous lack of experience in the area they're talking about. And I think sometimes it comes from people who have a personal interest in shaming those who become estranged from their family because they are the very kind of person one would wish to become estranged from. I am Matthew Hussey. I have been a coach for over 18 years of my life, helping people build confidence, heal from the past, and develop relational intelligence. Please subscribe to this channel if you wanna see more content from me, and like this video so that other people who need it will see it. Today, I wanna talk about the virtues of estrangement and why the notion that this is simply an extreme