- Date posted
- 2y
people pleasing plus *any theme* anyone?
I'm just curious abt what anyone's thoughts are like when also being a people pleaser?
I'm just curious abt what anyone's thoughts are like when also being a people pleaser?
The people pleasing issue with me is extremely difficult to manage as i have to manage a team at work.. Often I would make the wrong decision in favor of not falling out with a team member.. It really is frustrating for me :(
@donnocd It really is :( especially when I'm aware of how much it negatively impacts me and wanting to change it. There's so many feelings in its ways n out of living this way. at least I'm not alone in this struggle :)
Oh my gosh, I struggle with people pleasing so much. :( All my life everyone has always known me as "the most polite person they've ever met." I really like being polite but as I grew up I lost sight of the impact it had on me and my relationships. In therapy I learned that a response to danger is not just fight, flight, and freeze, but also fawn, which I'd never heard of. Many, many times over, when people have taken advantage of me I fawn and over-apologize and over-explain why they could be "right" and why I actually am in the "wrong" even when the other person is being a bully. It's a part of who I am and of course it was ignited by my own decisions to fawn, but growing up my older sister was SO FREAKING MEAN and CONTROLLING and looked down on me and corrected and scolded and mocked me at every turn, so even though I was naturally nice, she further conditioned me to fawn and appease the danger so as to avoid conflict. I always "knew" that if I didn't submit to my older sister, all of those things she said about me being stupid, weird, messy, lazy, unskilled, etc. would be automatically TRUE. So that behavior carried over into all of my relationships. The worst thing is that I REGRET my intense fawning so much. I'm so glad I'm aware of it and working hard on it, but oh my gosh, just looking back on those arguments I abandoned by pampering the other side makes me wince so hard. I'm so sorry you are struggling with this. It really is difficult and there can be so much retained guilt and fear with it.
It’s hard, but possible to not become one anymore. I’ve always been a people pleaser for the sake of not wanting to argue with people close to me. My unconfrontational attitude towards many things in my life have manifested into things I now talk about in therapy. I know there’s a way to become better and rise above it, you just gotta be strong for yourself & patient. Just like any muscle we can practice and work on our brains too. Compassion for yourself goes a long way.
Does anyone else struggle with this? It's been the main thing powering my POCD, and it's only been getting worse. Especially when I see posts online of people sharing their personal stories relating to CSA, specifically grooming. It's so triggering now, but before this theme developed, the most I'd feel while reading posts like that would be disgust targeted towards people who did those things. Now, my first thought is, "What if I do something like that one day? What if I've done it before and I don't remember or didn't know I was doing it?" I have many, many different intrusive thoughts or worries related to this theme, but it all circles back to this specific fear that I'll become like the people who hurt and took advantage of me. Does anyone have advice for this? I'm not sure if I've asked a similar question in the past or not, but is this something I need to deal with separately before beginning ERP for OCD? I'm just curious and also lost on where to begin with all of this. I'm just glad I'm able to begin working through all of these issues now, rather than later in life when I'd probably have a lot more responsibilities. Anyways, any feedback is appreciated! 🤍
There’s something that happens that keeps me stuck in a thought, it’s when I can see some part of myself agreeing with or relating to it in some way. That’s when the doubt creeps in. If I can understand *why* the thought is there, doesn’t that mean it’s not just random? Doesn’t that mean it actually reflects something about me? For example **(TMI/TW)**: I had the thought, *“I wonder what other people’s kinks are (including friends, family, even teenagers).”* And then I caught myself thinking, *“Well, I guess that could be interesting information… maybe I wouldn’t even stop someone from sharing it with me. Does that mean I actually want to know? Wait—does that make me perverted or incestuous for even having this curiosity?”* The same thing has happened with other thoughts, like wondering what someone’s privates might look like. I recognize that, on some level, that could be interesting—but does that mean the thought is truly mine? Maybe the answer is super obvious and I just can’t see through my OCD smoke. This was a bit embarrassing for me to write 🥲, but can anyone provide some insight?
I have read many people use the word theme in their posts. I think I know what that means as far as OCD goes but could someone please confirm me??? Thanks!
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