Welcome to the Thoughtful Advocate Podcast. I'm Elizabeth Teo, and today I need to tell you something that took me years to admit: being "too nice" almost destroyed me.

For most of my life, I was the person everyone could count on. The friend who dropped everything, who never said no, who was available 24/7. I thought I was being a good person. Turns out, I was just being a doormat, and people took full advantage of it.

In this deeply personal episode, I'm sharing three painful lessons that changed my life:

Lesson 1: Why being too nice and passive invites people to take advantage of you (and the psychology behind it)

Lesson 2: The exhausting reality of people pleasing and its roots in childhood trauma and insecure attachment styles

Lesson 3: Why you can't fix people no matter how much you care, and the difference between supporting versus enabling

I'll walk you through my own story from high school to now, including the wake up moment that changed everything. You'll learn about the "fawn" trauma response, how childhood patterns follow us into adulthood, and practical steps I took to finally start setting boundaries.

If you've ever felt completely drained, scared that people won't like you if you say no, or frustrated watching people ignore your advice, this episode will help you understand why and show you how to break free.

Topics covered: anxious attachment, self sacrificing schema, trauma response, emotional boundaries, self care, breaking people pleasing patterns, childhood trauma healing

Subscribe to the Thoughtful Advocate Podcast and follow me on Instagram @thethoughtfuladvocate for more content on mental health, personal growth, and breaking toxic patterns.