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Not sure where to begin? These are my most popular posts on boundaries, burnout, and people-pleasing.
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Not sure where to begin? These are my most popular posts on boundaries, burnout, and people-pleasing.
For years, I've talked about people-pleasing. But lately, I've been learning something deeper: people-pleasing isn't always just a pattern. Sometimes, it's a trauma response. And when that's the case? We call it fawning.
You know you're over-functioning. You can see the pattern clear as day. So why can't you stop? The answer isn't related to willpower. Instead, it's about what your nervous system learned to keep you safe. And changing it requires more than insight alone.
You're the one who remembers everything. The appointments, the emotional undercurrents, the thing someone said three days ago that you're still quietly tracking. You handle things before they become problems. You keep the emotional temperature of the room stable without anyone asking you to.
And somehow, even after eight hours of sleep, you still wake up tired.
This isn't about doing less or managing your time better. It's about what your nervous system learned to do a long time ago — and why it's so hard to stop, even when part of you is desperate to.