People passing by see the mess, not the blueprint. You don’t owe them a tour.

People see your current state, not your intention. They see the half-finished room, the gap year, the false start, and they fill in a story because that is what a glance produces. What they cannot see is the reason any of it is happening.

Stop explaining yourself to people who are only passing through. Save the full account for the handful who are actually invested in how it turns out. To everyone else, a short answer is not evasion, it is just the right size for the relationship.