It's really hard for family and friends to understand unless they've gone through it themselves. Heck, even the surgeons don't get the actual recovery process; mentally they know what it entails, but they've never been through it so don't really get it. It's like a male obstetrician-they deliver babies every day but will never really understand the process from our side. To understand many things we must have gone through it ourselves, otherwise all we can do is support and help others. But here at Bonesmart, we've all gone through it and understand and empathize totally.
Some of us have had a harder time than others, but we've all been there and do get it. It also makes it harder for us with our family and friends when another person they know has gone through it and had an "easy" recovery; then they think you're a big baby or faking it, etc. And it seems everyone 'knows someone' who went through this and flew through the recovery, went back to work after a week or two perfectly fine, etc, etc. My theory on that is they don't really know the details, but were told by the person that their recovery was "good" with no problems, when in reality they weren't around that person daily so don't really know all they went through. And for some reason, some people think an easier recovery is a badge of honor so hide the actual details. Plus some also conveniently 'forget' the actual ups and downs they went through and just say it was fine, etc.
In my case, my husband saw me all day every day for a month after my TKR, and, while he hasn't ever been ill or had any major health problems in his life, he did see what a hard time I had and is now planning for another rough recovery. He's planning on working from home for a month this time; I told him I might not need that much help this time and he said, "You're having your knee replaced and need all the help you can get". He can't personally empathize with me but he does get it as much as is possible.
My suggestion is to tell your family and friends that your body recovers at it's own pace, not theirs. Don't allow them to try to tell you when you should be feeling better, or how you should be feeling at any given point. This is a very long recovery, but many people do start feeling better sometime around three months. The total recovery, where you are actually feeling pretty much your old self again, is around a year. They really don't understand, and maybe don't have a ton of patience with others going through a rough time? If at all possible, go home to your own space where you can recover without any pressure on you to get well on the timetable of others. I know some people here have flights of stairs to navigate also-maybe ask them how they did it. (I believe Josephine was one of them, plus she managed on her own also). As for them thinking you're a "wimp", believe me you're not. This recovery is the hardest recovery I've ever gone through, and I've had somewhere in the vicinity of 15 surgeries over time. Some were relatively minor, but some were pretty major, and knee surgery of this type has no comparison.
Do what your knee tells you to do-it's the boss and no one can make it recover one second faster than it decides, not even you. If people try to tell you otherwise, ignore them and come here to whine when you need to, plus get advice, empathy and the support to get through it all.