People Pleasing

The lesson I learned when a supposedly reflective experience turned into its own life lesson about managing triggers. — “Just meditate lightly, so you can keep an eye on the students at the same time.” Sitting on a mat on the floor, I looked up at the woman seated in front of me on an elevated cushion platform. …

She: The guy left me because he thought I tried to seek attention? Friend 1: Do you feel that way? Friend 2: And what’s bad about being a girl who needs male attention? Is it harmful? …

So, for the longest time I would always say I didn’t feel at home when I was in my childhood home. My therapist immediately thought I had childhood trauma, I don’t, or maybe something happened in my home that I don’t remember with my family. …

Why the difficulty (and sometimes inability) to self-advocate is so common to the autistic experience… and why it’s so insidious. During a writing workshop I took this past year, I was reading a submission from someone in the group, and the following passage hit me like a brick: “I learned…

I was at the grocery store today with my 18-month-old in the checkout line. As I was unpacking our cart onto the belt, a man came right up to us and started asking me a lot of invasive questions. “How old is she?” “What’s her name?” “What aisle did you…

Toxic relationships and people pleasing go hand in hand. That is why you most likely have an imprint of people pleasing in your way of interacting with others that lingers from toxic relationships you have coped with. We even have common cutesy and clever phrases to describe the dynamic between…

I spent a lot of time letting people tell me who I was. I was so easily wrapped up in the opinions of other people and what they thought of me. I wanted to always be the best for others. I am a people person by nature which is both…

Stop looking for a reason to celebrate special days, Stop looking for meaning before enjoying the beauties of life, Stop second-guessing why you should wear a smile, Stop seeking validation externally, Stop waiting to achieve before you will be happy, Stop giving love to others, before loving yourself, Stop seeking permission to live. Stop being a…

Growing up, my home environment was emotionally unpredictable, and I constantly felt the need to tread carefully as if I were walking on eggshells. I believed making my parents laugh, striving to be the perfect child, and maintaining a lighthearted atmosphere, would somehow prevent arguments that frequently spiraled into episodes…