People pleasing: You're Not the Only One

They’d bring over a small plant sometimes, or a drawing. …

The profound sense of inadequacy that gripped me then. …

Spending my entire vacation budget, a full two weeks of earnings from that one big freelance project, on a crystal vase for my cousin’s wedding. …

The barn owls are at it again outside my window, hooting like they’re trying to solve some great rural mystery, and I just can't sleep. …

Migraine throbbing. …

My head was already thrumming that day, like a hive of angry bees behind my eyes, and the light felt like needles, and I’d just wanted to curl up in the dark under a blanket and let it all fade, let… …

spirited, I’d call it, never really learned how to manage themselves, classic executive function deficits really, but I thought, *I* can help, *I* know how to create structure, how to foster… …

I think maybe this isn’t what you mean, but I still feel a quiet ache sometimes, remembering that party. …

“Hey, so sorry to do this, but the client just dropped a MASSIVE design overhaul on us for Project Zenith. …

I woke up with a migraine that day, one of those pulsating, occipital lobe throbbing horrors, where light feels like a physical blow and sound is just a cacophony of daggers. …

Like, my neighbor, bless her heart, she’s got these two kids, and honestly, they’re a menace. …

Every single day, my mother is over there, babysitting those terror children for FREE, and she acts like it’s a privilege. …

i don’t even know why im typing this right now it’s 2:37 am and im supposed to be working on my stats final but my brain just won’t shut up about this so yesterday was saturday right and my mom… …

constantly offering free childcare, for instance — the neighbor's brood, all elbows and shrieks, for hours. …

Like, it’s not exactly regret, not exactly anger, but it’s this hollow ache right behind my sternum that just WON'T go away. …

i am not sure why this memory came back to me tonight it is 2:17 am and my mind is drifting back to a friday afternoon in late september 1968 i was still so young a junior analyst fresh out of my… …

i spent my entire vacation budget on a crystal decanter set and engraved silver serving spoons for my cousin's wedding feeling this intense pressure to prevent the familial assessment of… …

I saw a post earlier about some young designer sacrificing their weekend for a senior colleague, redesigning a whole project, and it just hit me, you know? …

I’m analyzing a recent incident, attempting to understand the underlying psychopathology – or at least the cognitive bias – that led to my current predicament. …

I took the extra weekend work from Miller — three whole projects, no less — just to avoid a slightly awkward five-minute chat about my workload. …