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People Pleasers - Are They Also Your Problem?

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J_trustno1

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Okay, I don't know if this is the right place for this thread or not ? I'm going to write on this topic here anyway.

Well, well , where do I start on this endless topic?
Yes, It's about my family again but it's from a different angle today. A little background for those who haven't read my previous posts:

I grew up in a dysfunctional family where domestic violence was considered normal, child labor is also considered normal, emotional, physical and verbal abuse are far more normal here than anyone could think of..

My brother and I have been victim of child labor, emotional and verbal abuse together but I had a bit extra which involves childhood sexual and physical abuse as well. It all started when I was little and the people involved in this were my mum's siblings (bastard narcissistic brother, pedophile brother-in-law, bitch sisters). These people left no event to emotionally or verbally abuse you. They never missed a chance to bring you down be it your own house or their own family gatherings. My own father tried killing me when I was 10, he tried forcing suicide on my mother twice and God knows how many other times, he also beat her, abused her verbally. He (father) never considered me good enough and always compared me to my brother despite how well I did in school but in his eyes I still have been the dumbest kid in comparison to my brother despite having higher qualification or getting better grades than him. My brother still had more advantages than me in the family and he has always been considered the nicest , kindest soul by my father who gave him special treatment being the male child. My mum's family also considered my brother better than me since they could get him to mold in their ways and get him to do shit their ways i.e. in other words I was the culprit, bitch, rude, sarcastic, cold, and scar (i.e. villain from the Lion king) of the family.

Anyway, let's not get side tracked on this topic. So let's get back to the topic:
These people have always liked my brother despite giving him shit treatment. Since he always did things their way and never stood up for himself, he's considered the kind kid. On the other hand, I have been considered horrible because I have been outspoken and they couldn't mold me their ways.

What really pisses me off is that, how can my brother do things for them when they have also treated him like doormat and at times partially been okay to him? Two months ago, no one dropped my brother to their airport when he was going to his Europe trip but me and my mother. Now they (mum's siblings and their kids) are going to their trip overseas and they asked him to meet them, he's going to drop them to the airport. I mean how can you be nice to those people who do nothing for you but you keep giving?? I can NEVER do this. There have been other instants where my mum's bastard brother would give my brother some expensive gifts and in return my brother would do favors for him i.e. doing his shopping, fixing his house or some other labor jobs he assigned to him. My brother would give up on his priorities to help these people who do nothing good but throw a small treat that you would normally throw at a cat or a dog to get them to listen to you.
This people pleasing behavior of his doesn't stop here. He then complains about being used by them or their kids who don't return favors to him when he's in need. This has been happening to him for the last 14 years and he's not willing to stand up for himself but complain to me about it. These people (mum's siblings) have also humiliated him in their parties when he used to be over weight and now he's still being their DOG!!! At least Dogs are only nice to those who are nice to them!

Next comes my mother who is of no difference to my brother. She's been treated the same way but she still does things for these people. She still visits my father who is living abroad despite him giving her all that treatment. Then she also complains about their mistreatment and not doing anything about it.

My question is: How the hell can you keep repeating this behavior when people are treating you this bad?

I have cut ties with all those assholes of my life and I have disagreed to do favor for them even when I was a kid despite being labelled all those horrid titles but my self-worth is more important than what these want out of me.

Do these people pleasers also irritate you?

I might've lost the plot here but I'm not a story write so please pardon my writing skills for this topic.

Thank you in advance.
 
Maybe it's possible that your brother is trying to create an illusion for himself, that your family is actually loving and normal, because he never really experienced it. I am personally a person pleaser because I'm so afraid of the retaliation of I don't please those around me, including my abuser, especially my abuser. I'm afraid he'll hurt me. I know, it's an old fear from the past, but it's still there....just my two cents.
 
Last year when I was encountering lots of problems outside the house (i.e friends or relationships ) and relatives, I told my brother that I hate all these relatives and I will never let them near me. He asked me, "aren't you afraid of being alone for the rest of your life?". I told him that "I'd rather be alone than having toxic people in my life". His reply was," I am afraid of living alone for the rest of my life, I want people in my life".

I don't know if this behavior comes from his abandonment issues. He repeats this behavior for his friends and always tries pleasing them even if they don't do much for him. Most of the time his friends end up ditching him.

On the other hand, I have trusting issues because my trust has been broken so many times be it family or friends that now I have made a decision of being selective about who enters my life. I don't care about being alone because I'd rather not have abusive relationships. I want peace of mind and want to be mentally stable than running after people. If someone likes me or wants to be in my company then I don't have to chase them. That's how I think of it.
 
yes, I used to irritate the hell out of myself for being a people pleaser. It was something I did from childhood.....maybe if I'm extremely good and do all I can to keep the abusers happy, maybe I can save my brothers and myself from getting a beating......sort of keep them in a good mood. I just wanted love and approval. As an adult, It was a way of trying to be liked and loved, to avoid confrontation, and I honestly didn't like to hurt people feelings.
I now have the boundaries and self respect for myself, but it took a while.
I will say though, that people who are like this I don't get irritated with as I understand what is behind it.
 
Denial isn't just a river in Egypt?

Unfortunately there's not much you can do if someone chooses to live in a state of denial. You sort of just have to accept that's where there at right now.

The problem with your brother's behavior is that he's acting out of fear.......he's afraid of being alone so he'll do anything to avoid that fate, even if it means putting up with sh!tty people. Instead of taking the risk of going out into the world and finding GOOD people who will love and accept him for who he is, he stays where he is and does whatever he can to please those around him. Maybe his "friends" ditch him because they realize he's a doormat and not someone who can stand on his own two feet. Honestly, I've known people like that and they're a drag to be around.
 
One of the difficult lessons that I had to learn the hard way is this one...

Even though you want to please people all the time, there are those that no matter what you do, whether it's bending over backwards or even forwards for them, they still won't be pleased since nothing pleases them.

There is a fine line too when it comes to pleasing people. For example: When your employed, you want to perform and make your boss happy so that you and they are both happy. When you fail to perform as expected, that doesn't make your boss happy, that also likely doesn't make you feel very happy either. In terms of the toxicity where toxic people co-mingle in this, they haven't learned and quite possibly are hung up on their other life lessons. My feeling is we're all here on a learning journey. Exactly what we're supposed to learn is for each of us to discover in our own way and time.

---SeanGeo
 
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