Over the last couple of weeks, we've explored people-pleasing and one of its hidden roots - emotional neglect in childhood. The first time we recognize the people pleaser within us, something shifts. We quietly nod our heads and think, "This has been my life." We begin to notice the different ways we've been abandoning ourselves. We see the countless moments we said "yes" when we wanted to say "no." We recognize how often we've prioritized everyone else's needs while quietly ignoring our own....

Who did you have to please as a child to feel safe? Whose love did you crave the most? Who did you have to become to receive that love? Pause for a moment and really sit with those questions. Many of us can easily recognize physical abuse. We can see emotional abuse when harsh words, criticism, or control are involved. But emotional neglect is different. It is often invisible. There are no bruises. No obvious wounds. No one intended to hurt us. In fact, emotional neglect often happens in...

From the moment many of us are born, we are taught how to be "good." Be polite. Be helpful. Think of others. Don't be selfish. Don't make people uncomfortable. Don't talk back. Don't be difficult. And somewhere along the way, many women learn a lesson that was never spoken out loud: Everyone else's needs matter more than yours. In most cultures, girls are praised for being accommodating, sacrificing, and putting others first. We celebrate the woman who gives endlessly, the mother who never...