How to Reduce the “Stacking Tax” in Your Relationships
Christmas is when the tax is the highest. This is the year to start paying less.
I want you to play a guessing game with me.
It may give you a little insight into how accurate you are at gauging human character.
If you’ve recently endured a Thanksgiving dinner or are about to endure a Christmas dinner where you’ve sat across a family member with diametrically opposed political views and wondered, “Can I really have a relationship with this person?” — this article may be especially pertinent to you.
Ready?
Over Thanksgiving, I spent time with two groups of people. Let’s call them the Open Group and the Closed Group.
In my time with the Open Group, I felt deeply seen. They asked me many questions about my thoughts and listened with genuine curiosity. They also showed a lot of willingness to explore things I shared with them further. I felt a deep resonance and a strong feeling of shared humanity.
In my time with the Closed Group, our conversations felt shallow and repetitive. There was an undertone of intellectual smugness and it felt like they didn’t believe there was more they needed to learn on most topics. They were also more interested in…
