S0 Ep 15: Awareness That You Can’t Please Everyone

Are you aware of who you can and can’t please? Recognizing who you can and can’t please is a highly freeing, positive act. You may or may not be familiar with this quote attributed to both Abraham Lincoln and John Lydgate, “You can please some of the people all of the time, you can please all of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time.” If you are a people pleaser – this is a bitter pill to swallow. But doing so is surprisingly freeing. Like it or not – it is impossible to please everyone. And though this can be frustrating and infuriating – it’s actually a good thing. Why? Because recognizing this truth helps us to better be our genuine selves. What does being our genuine selves mean? How many times have you done something because you thought it was what someone else expected? Or you did something to accommodate someone – even though it didn’t please you in the least, nor feel all that good to do? That’s what being your genuine self is all about. It’s doing things – even for other people – from your true self. Meaning? It comes from your values and beliefs. You’re doing the thing not to just please someone – but because it’s a thing you desire to do. Please the few and yourself The reason I believe recognizing and acknowledging this is both positive and empowering is that that allows you to alter your course. Trying to please everyone will drive you mad. Because you can’t. Try though you might – not everyone can or will be pleased. This isn’t a license to be an ass or treat people poorly, or without kindness and compassion. But what it does instead allows you to stop wasting time and effort that disempowers, exhausts, or otherwise harms you. Seeing that you can’t please all the people all the time allows you to step back and say, “Sorry, I can’t,” “Not today,” “No, thank you,” or any other polite rejection. You empower yourself to work for your betterment and overall mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual health.