Recovering People Pleaser It took me 32 years to realize pleasing everyone is impossible. I am a recovering people pleaser. When I try to please everyone, I end up pleasing no one. On my road to recovery, I realize I have a choice to say no. The first no to anyone is always the hardest. I must remember that I am saying no for a good reason. I get time to myself and for the people I really want to help. Being selfish is not being rude, it is putting my happiness first. Establishing that my happiness comes first is the best thing I can do for myself and my family.
Learning to put my happiness first is the first step to quit being a people pleaser. When trying to be a people-pleaser, I needed to get outside validation. My personal
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I used to think I must be loved and approved by everyone to be happy. This is not true. I do not have to please everyone to be happy in life. I found out that no matter how hard I try, I cannot please everyone. One Saturday afternoon I planned to leave work early to pick up my daughter from school, so she could get ready for her homecoming dance. I got held up in a meeting at work and did not leave on time. I wanted to please my coworkers, so I stayed for the entire meeting. As I was running out the door, a coworker stopped me to ask me a few questions she had about cutting hair. I decided to help her because I wanted to please her also. Even though my daughter became upset that we were running late, I ran around the house trying to get her ready for homecoming. As I was rushing my daughter out of the house, a neighbor stopped by and asked to borrow my laptop. I had forgotten my laptop at work after my coworker stopped me. After dropping my daughter off at homecoming, I drove thirty minutes back to work and picked up my laptop to please my neighbor. After all this running around, I had forgotten about the plans my mother had made for us that night. Even though I tried my best to please everyone, I ended hurting the people who loved me the