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Had a sit-down with my nephew who joined that self-improvement group last fall.
He told me the group's leader said cutting off family was necessary for growth, and I asked him flat out why a real growth plan needs to isolate you from people who love you. Anyone else watched someone close get pulled into one of these and try to reason with them?
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the_claire4mo ago
Went through almost the exact same thing with my younger sister a few years back. I stopped trying to argue about the group itself and started asking her simple questions about what she was actually learning. When she told me the leader said her family was holding her back, I asked her to give me one specific example of how I had done that. She couldn't come up with anything real. I also started calling her more often just to check in, never bringing up the group. After a few months she admitted the whole thing felt off and eventually left on her own. Sometimes you just have to let them figure it out themselves while keeping that door open.
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hannahcraig4mo ago
Brought up something that stuck with me from your story - you never actually told her she was wrong, you just asked her to prove it to herself. That's actually really smart because it puts them in a position where they have to defend their own beliefs instead of getting defensive about yours. My cousin got into one of those MLM things and every time I pointed out the scammy stuff she just dug in harder. But when I started acting curious and asked her to walk me through the math on how she'd actually make money, she started stumbling over her own answers. There's something about having to explain it out loud to someone who's genuinely listening that makes people hear how crazy it sounds.
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