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The unlucky know that unreciprocated love is torturous. Being stuck in the loop of needing to increase the quality of your attention toward someone perpetually unimpressed by it seldom ends without disappointment.
The unimpressed aren’t bound to love’s context however, and you’ll come across those who decide you’re not worthy of their respect in the first moments they meet you. These people can exist at work, school, or in your extended social group.
They’ll be slow to respond to your emails, their body language will signal their perceived sense of importance over you, and your inputs will not be interpreted with seriousness. The unimpressed formulate their judgment of others and continually work to confirm their biases in their relations toward those people.
This article aims to free you from the trap of trying to impress the unimpressed.
Casting Doubt in Their Judgement of You Starts With Not Catering to It
If proving the unimpressed wrong is your motive, then your actions shouldn’t reward them. The unimpressed are rewarded when those they’re not impressed by provide them with more attention than before.
Those who feel a desire to impress the unimpressed start jogging a little quicker in hopes of catching the gaze of the unimpressed. They start using bigger words, wearing nicer clothes, and attending the events those with higher social standing attend.
What’s missing from plans of increasing the quality and quantity of output toward the unimpressed is the knowledge that the unimpressed only grow more unimpressed when they’re catered to. Your value in the eyes of those not impressed by you will lower even further the harder you try to impress them because they’d dictate your behavior. They will perceive a sense of control over you and would have achieved that perceived sense of control by demeaning you.
In an effort to make you dance further – and make themselves feel better – they’re going to continue doing what works. They’re going to be perpetually unimpressed with every act you try to win them over with.
The Unimpressed Will Never Respect Those That Dance for Them
This is the cycle those who fall victim to the perpetually unimpressed get stuck in. They become less respected with every iteration of attempting to impress. Individuals stuck in this cycle will psychologically burn out sooner or later. They’ll perceive the world to be against them whilst bathing in the naivety behind the actions they perceive to be right.
“What else do they want from me?”
That question presents the breaking point. The dancer has grown tired; the music no longer makes them move. With every attempt to impress, they’ve grown to be less respected by those watching them react to each person unimpressed with their efforts.
A lack of understanding of the power dynamics at play is at the core of the issue. To the unimpressed, it’s never been, or going to be, about the actions of those they’re unimpressed by. They are on a quest to make themselves feel greater than someone else. They’ll even be unimpressed if you save a child from getting hit by a car in front of them. As with every impressive act you commit, their perceived sense of control and power will grow as they continue to label it as unimpressive.
So What To Do With Those Unimpressed by You?
Do not cater to the challenges of the unimpressed as they show a premeditated lack of attention toward you. The key is to not value their judgement of your words and actions enough to change the way you talk and act around them. Adopt the mindset of perceiving the unimpressed to be missing out on whatever output you produce in this world. They’re losers in that sense.
Their trivial pursuit for power over others by not giving credit where it’s due only serves to push away positivity from their lives. Their quest to belittle others for the sake of feeling bigger themselves should be discouraged with silence and distance rather than encouraged with repeated attempts to impress.
Encourage them with positive social feedback only when these individuals lose the ‘holier-than-thou’ act. Reward their undivided attention toward you but do not try to win it over in any way. Continue impressing yourself with your words and actions. Devalue these individuals’ judgement’s value by being unimpressed with it yourself. Their approval will not improve your life and your social standing does not depend on acceptance by those who grasp to their status in the form of misguided power-plays.