Posts under ‘people pleasing’

Slogans

Image credit: Photo by
Darwin Bell on Flickr
Licensed under Creative Commons

A friend called me last night. She's in the midst of some very messy office politics at work. She thinks her coworkers are being difficult. They think she's being unreasonable. Her boss thinks they're all wrong and they all think the boss [...]

Out of the Mouths of Babes

Image credit: Photo by
Christaface on Flickr
Licensed under Creative Commons

A few days ago, my daughter Janie walked into the kitchen, which my frantic holiday baking had turned into an indoor winter wonderland, covered in soft mounds of flour and dustings of sparkling sugar.  "What are you making, Mama?" she asked.
"A pie for a potluck dinner with [...]

Party Pooper

Image credit: Photo by
jennifer buehrer on Flickr
Licensed under Creative Commons

I'm a party pooper.  I'm a downer.  I'm no fun.  I ruin other people's good times.  (Because I totally have control over other people's good times, you know.)
You see, yesterday Mark and I had plans to take the kids to a pumpkin patch.  We were going [...]

How to Get the Man You Want (the Codependent Way)

Warning: this post is self-satirical in nature. It should not be read by the sarcasm impaired.

Image credit: Photo by
DaveAustria.com on Flickr
Licensed under Creative Commons

So, you know, I'm not really codependent.  (I hate that word anyway.  Sincerely I do.)  I just like to do nice things for people.  Really nice things.  Like that time in college [...]

Ellie’s Towel

Image credit: Photo by
limonada on Flickr
Licensed under Creative Commons

A few years ago, I was visiting my friend Ellie and was a guest in her house for the first time in my life.  I had just taken a shower and was standing in her bathroom, a wet towel in my hand, at a loss for what [...]

Doesn’t Work Well with Others

Image credit: Photo by
nickwheeleroz on Flickr
Licensed under Creative Commons

A big red C. There it was, heartbreakingly plastered on the front of the report I had worked for weeks on. I had painstakingly drawn a wombat on the special mottled pastel paper, neatly stenciled the title ("All About Wombats"), and enclosed it, along with [...]

Respect Jack’s Boundaries!

Ok, so I'm a little behind on my Lost watching. Somewhere in the middle of the season my husband and I just couldn't find time to watch TV together, so we are only now getting back to those episodes we so faithfully recorded. Last night we were watching the episode "Whatever Happened, Happened" [...]

Codie Dreams of Self Doubt

Image credit: Photo by
onkel_wart on Flickr
Licensed under Creative Commons

Sometimes my subconscious likes to be really mysterious in its messages to me (so, why, exactly, did a frog hop on the big pink bubble gum bubble I was blowing?). Sometimes it likes to tell jokes. Sometimes it (like many a subconscious) likes to play [...]

Sharing the Silence

Image credit: Art by
zedzap on Flickr
Licensed under Creative Commons

Like many people, I walked into my first 12 Step meeting never expecting to wind up there, with no clue what to expect other than what Hollywood had taught me (which I soon learned was nothing accurate). The meetings I first started attending were for friends [...]

Asking for What I Need

Image credit: Photo by
c@rljones on Flickr
Licensed under Creative Commons

Earlier this week, I had a rough morning with my daughter, my son was sick, I had an IEP meeting scheduled (those of you who don't know what that is, be glad you don't) and on top of it all, I couldn't find a family pet (which [...]