Stop trying so hard to make everyone else happy.
Seriously, just stop. Especially if at the end of the day, you’re feeling beyond miserable. Being a people-pleaser is extremely overwhelming and mentally exhausting. Putting tremendous effort into making sure everyone around you is well while you’re broken inside is even painful at times.
So, instead of devoting all of your energy into making others happy, try thinking about your own happiness for a change.
Here are 6 reasons why you need to ditch that people-pleasing behavior and start taking care of yourself right now.
1. You will severely damage your mental health.
Giving every single bit of your energy into prioritizing others’ wellbeing is severely harming your mental health. While you’re making sure the people around you are satisfied, you slowly forget about your own wellness. Thus, you’re indirectly hurting your emotional state by putting yourself last. Try prioritizing your own needs instead. The change you’ll experience will be incredible.
2. You will expose your soul.
Taking care of everyone else’s happiness makes you deeply vulnerable. It exposes your soul in a way it should be exposed only to the ones who truly love and care about you. Moreover, it makes you sensitive to others’ opinions about you. That’s because you put enormous effort into looking after them and naturally, you expect them to at least appreciate you. But they never do, do they?
3. You will slowly but steadily lose yourself.
Of course, you will. Prioritizing others halts your personal growth as you’re focused on their wellbeing, rather than on your own aspirations and dreams. What’s even more terrifying than losing focus on your personal prosperity and happiness is that while you’re in the role of the people-pleaser, others will be tempted to walk over you. Not only will this crush your spirit even more, but it will push you into losing yourself.
4. You will develop co-dependencies.
As other people get used to you taking care of them, they will inevitably start depending on you. They will consider you as their shoulder to cry on and their personal therapist. You will become the person they go to whenever something’s troubling them. This will leave you with a huge emotional burden that has the power to shatter your soul. It may not happen at once, but when you realize it has already happened, it might be too late.
5. You will feel unappreciated.
That’s the irony of trying to make everyone else happy but yourself. It makes you feel unwanted and even unloved. In times you need someone to take care of you, there will be no one around. They will all be used to you handling it all by yourself, so they wouldn’t even consider you might need emotional support as well.
6. You will be hurting.
A time will come when you will realize that regardless of what you’re doing, it will never be enough for some people. And when this time comes, you will feel horrible. This revelation will deeply hurt you. But hopefully, it will also open your eyes to the way you should be treating yourself.
