People-Pleasing as a Survival Tactic After Bullying
Because I don't feel like I... Like, I don't
identify as, like,
like a
a desirable person, I guess.
Um,
so I always assume that when people meet me,
I'm a bit of a disappointment.
That with
the hair and the makeup and the lighting and the styling and the
setup and everything there, and the acting, that that's, you know,
an illusion
of some kind.
And so...
But yeah. You know, and again, I, you know, my, my brain knows
that I am
taking this experience and I am blowing it way out of
proportion, you know? Like I, I know that, but again,
there's just something about your heart and your gut that-
I'm sorry, you, you feel like you're blowing what out of
proportion?
That I know that people aren't disappointed to meet me, or
that not everyone
finds me annoying. But knowing is not the same as, like,
believing.
Feeling. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Right? And so that, that fear is always there.
I mean, my, part of my response when people are always like, "Oh,
I can't believe,
you know, you were someone who was bullied.
You seem so nice," or, "You seem..." You know, is I kinda go,
you know, we
present
the opposite of our fears, right?
Sure.
So if my deepest fear is that I am undesirable and unwanted and
unlikable,
then every action I do is in contrast to that.
Mm-hmm.
It's to make sure that I'm not annoying to you
or you like me or that I...
So you know, I've been dismissed as like, "Oh, you're a people pleaser," and I'm
like, "It is deeper than that," you know?
This is a survival tactic.
Um,
and it serves me in some ways, and it really doesn't in others.
I can very much be a doormat. I can very much, you know,
as we've been talking
about,
you know, I, I jump through a million hoops before I
say anything that could possibly,
you know, push me in a, in, in a direction of being
a confrontation. Um, yeah, it sucks, but I don't know.
I also feel like
I'm a compassionate person, and when I meet people who I can feel
have that,
like that energetics thing, where like, oh, I can feel like you're someone who
maybe got some of those comments or lived like that, who have
that little bit of
self-confidence, like there's a part of you that's like,
"I'm there.
I will be your friend." Right?
Mm-hmm.
Like, I wanna be...
I don't want anyone else to ever feel that way.
Yeah.
And I don't ever wanna feel that way again.
So I, I have that outreach in me, um,
and really, I'm really drawn to people who I think
share that
experience.
Don't give up.
I don't give up.
End of transcript · 477 words