At first both are comfortable in silence, so it doesn't seem bad.
RCOAN finds it refreshing that RLUAN is fine not following along.
RLUAN is relieved RCOAN doesn't try to change them.
At work too, each can divide the work while guarding their own territory.
Where you clash
RCOAN's private self carries a compulsion to keep climbing higher.
RLUAN's private self declares from the start, “I'm not playing this game.”
When RCOAN tries to persuade RLUAN to take the same road, RLUAN feels RCOAN's fixation is pathological.
RCOAN gets frustrated that RLUAN wastes their own potential.
Relationship playbook
The deeper the silence grows, the deeper the distance inside that silence grows too.
Even sitting at the same cafe each reading a book, RCOAN thinks “I can go further” and RLUAN thinks “I hate this game itself.”
It's the same silence, but they aren't in the same place.
“When RLUAN can say ‘I don't play the game, but you can,’ and RCOAN can say ‘I wasn't trying to change you, I'm just walking my own road,’ the two can become independent people who respect each other's path.”