In the book “It Starts with us”, the MC Atlas Corrigan decides to have a confrontation with his mother.
Their relationship is broken already. To an extent that Atlas doesn’t even expect a conversation with his mother.
However, he has recently discovered he has a younger brother. And he wants his younger brother to have a Mom who cares.
Atlas sets up a meeting with his mother in the restaurant he owns. He invites her on the day his restaurant is shut. Atlas’ experience of being consistently beaten up and eventually being disowned by his mother told him that.
In the restaurant, there’s only the two of them. When Atlas tells his Mom (I’m paraphrasing it):
Every Tuesday at 8 pm, we will have a family meal. Me, my brother and you. My brother and I will continue having it, even if you don’t show up.
This was the first time Atlas saw his mother cry. And show some real humanity for the first time.
This is not just Atlas’s mother. Rather a lot of us who have people who thrive on an audience. They don’t plan drama. The drama plans itself through it.
So the way to have a meaningful conversation out of someone who is mean but is doing nothing to change it, is to have it without them having an audience. I have tested it multiple times after it. And it works. You should try it too.
