Stop Pleasing Others - - a podcast by David K Payne

The most crucial and difficult step towards an authentic life is deciding to stop pleasing others. As human’s, we long for the approval of those closest to us as well as those we meet we need or feel compelled to impress. Sadly because of so little genuine respect towards others, humans as a species drift toward living lives that are never genuinely authentic.

The lives of most people are a hodge-podge of influences of our families, societies, religion and the many small groups that make up our individual communities. Though we end up drifting towards those we are most alike, even there we find that to feel indeed accepted and respected we feel compelled to please others.

Acceptance may feed our ego and supply some sense of purpose in our lives on the surface, but we are in constant danger of emotionally, physically and spiritually eroding from within. The effects of this inner erosion is a gradual wearing away of our peace, joy, and contentment. After prolonged years of personal compromise for the approval of others, we find our lives destroyed and sadly may lose our desire to live altogether.

In religious circles, where we should be celebrating our diversity and individuality we find the most extreme pressure to conform to the expectations of others. The problem is we find ourselves trying to adapt to people who are in turn only expressing what they feel pressure to expect as they too have never discovered their authentic life.

Find the courage to stand up for yourself and stop yielding to the pressure of pleasing others. Embrace who God has created you to be and only desire to conform to God’s will and design for your life. It is then that you will begin to feel alive again, and though you may lose the acceptance of some or many, you will start to look in the mirror know with confidence that what you and others see is authentic.

“Don't let the expectations and opinions of other people affect your decisions. It's your life, not theirs. Do what matters most to you; do what makes you feel alive and happy. Don't let the expectations and ideas of others limit who you are. If you let others tell you who you are, you are living their reality — not yours. There is more to life than pleasing people. There is much more to life than following others' prescribed path. There is so much more to life than what you experience right now. You need to decide who you are for yourself. Become a whole being. Adventure.” 
― Roy T. Bennett

Further episodes of "the DKP Word"

Further podcasts by David K Payne

Website of David K Payne