We all love getting a bit of attention, some people love a lot of attention. But sometimes, people give poisonous attention.
Poisonous attention is when someone pays attention to you, but always seems to end up asking/digging into your discontentment. They say things like,
“How’s that issue going? Haven’t they sorted it out yet? You must be feeling so frustrated with them, yeah?”
“I just get so upset when I think about what you must be going through. You’ve had to deal with so much. You can tell me how you really feel.”
“Whatever’s wrong (with your circumstance), you can tell me… I’ll understand”
They are people who seek out discontentment, but not in order to help people take it to God and trust him with joy. Instead, it leads people to ever more discontentment.
And here’s why it’s so dangerous… It’s addictive.
Once you’ve been given that type of attention time and time again, you get used to it. You feel like that’s what “good conversations” are meant to feel like. You dislike them idea of being told you’re wrong, or called to repent.
Just say, “You know, I think talking about it might make it worse. Let’s talk about something else.”