Where Should I Start? How Do I Start?

Where does one start when trying to have a better, more fulfilled life? You take a look at your life and identify something that you see standing in your way. A behavior that is self-defeating or debilitating.

I took a close look at my life and discovered that I have an addiction. It is one of the main issues that gets in the way of me truly experiencing fulfillment. It is the one thing that gets in the way of me being who I want to be, doing what I want to do, going where I want to go and seeing what I want to see. What is my addiction??

 People pleasing...... As long as I can remember, I always wanted other people to be happy and comfortable. That's not really so bad or unusual, but at some point I noticed that I wanted other people to be happy and comfortable at the expense of my own happiness. More times than I can count, every week, every day, several times a day even........I am putting someone else's feelings before my own. When I ask myself why I continually do this, I come up with two reasons. 1) I want EVERYBODY to like me. 2) I care entirely too much about what people think of me.

I have listed two different reasons, but the more I think about it, the more I believe that they are both the same thing. Logically, I know this is totally ridiculous. Everybody is not going to like me, but really.......who cares??? I do, and that is the damn problem. I care more about the feelings of the person on the street than I do my own. An exaggeration? Probably, but not too, too much of a stretch.

I feel compelled to give a few examples of my extreme people pleasing because I think if I see it on paper, I will truly realize how crazy it is.

My eyebrows........I have had the hardest time finding someone to arch them correctly. After an extensive search, I found a girl that I like in a shop that I had gone to several times. Each time I had gone previously, someone different had done my brows. An old lady in the shop had messed up my brows on two prior occasions. She's terrible and it never fails that she is the only one available! On this particular day when I went into the salon, the girl that I wanted was busy and the old lady was available as usual. She told me the other girl was with a client, but that she would do them for me. I really did not want her to do them because I knew I wouldn't be happy, but I was so afraid of hurting her feelings or having her think I was a "b", that I let her do them anyway. Guess what? She messed them up again and I have been walking around with jacked up brows for two weeks. I was mad at her but I should have been mad at myself.

A few more quick examples:

•  Letting people at work sucker me into taking on grunt work because I want to keep everyone happy.
•  Biting my tongue when it comes to dealing with family members because I want everybody in my extended family to get along and I don't want anyone to be upset with me.
• going to jewelry demonstrations, fundraisers, MLM meetings, etc that I have zero desire to attend just because I don't want to hurt people's feelings or have them think that I am, I don't know.....whatever
• Remaining friends with people who clearly don't have my best interests at heart because I care more about what they think of me, than what I think of them!!!

Anyway those are just a few examples. I have searched my soul to try and come up with a reason why I feel this way. I think it is related to feelings of abandonment that I experienced as a child after my parent's divorce. I was absolutely convinced that my father left because of something I had done. I thought that if I had been better, smarter, cuter or more well behaved, maybe he would have stayed. Totally ridiculous I know, but that was the mind of a child. I think after that, I went on a mission to stop people from going away from me. So I would never say or do anything to make that happen, but somewhere along the way, I went from being concerned with the feelings of friends and family to caring too much about anyone and everyone's feelings. Now this has become a life long, paralyzing habit.

How do I break away from this behavior? How do I change? Where do I start? Maybe I'll start with the eyebrows. I'm due for a wax this week. I will not, I repeat, I will not let the old lady do my brows! lol! Seriously though.........Is this people pleasing or am I just being a straight up punk????