There will always be certain people in your life that you’re trying to impress. It’s part of being a community animal and all of the complicated nuance within our culture.
Someone’s voice is in your head and your actions typically revolve around trying to impress them.
Your ego isn’t going to want to accept this fact. Unless you are comfortable with being in service to others, it’s going to be a struggle. Our culture rewards independent thinkers and people pleasing is seen as a sign of weakness.
Whenever I find myself worrying about the outcome, feeling guilty for a choice I’ve made, or working overtime to avoid failure I have discovered it’s not me I’m worried about.
It’s helpful to identify who it is you’re trying to impress because left uninvestigated this program runs silently in the background and sabotaged you. It might be a parent who’s passed away but left their words in your head, it might be an ex who had strong opinions, it could be an old teacher from school, or a troll on the internet.
Many times we are running ourselves ragged trying to please someone who could never be pleased, and doesn’t care anymore anyway.
It pays to do a little digging to see who has a hold on you.