Achieving Serenity

Pippin Plassey, the People Pleaser

Calling defects their true names

Pippin Plassey had a people pleaser problem, perpetually putting the pleasures of people prior to Pippin.

People loved Pippin, but those close to him often became annoyed with his seeming lack of authenticity. However, his undeniable love kept people around him and kept them tolerable of his artificial ways.

Pippin knew he had a problem when he found himself struggling at his web design job. He was excellent at designing web sites at good at his job- in fact, one could say Pippin was too good. The company he worked for had a definite scope of what they were willing to do for customers, but Pippin didn't think it was fair and thought his job was ripping people off. He worked on the phones and had a hard time telling people no. As a result, he would notoriously go beyond the expected scope of his company to satisfy the customer, willing to do whatever it took to avoid having to reject the customer's inquiry. Often times he would take projects home with him, coding all night to build the requested plugin that his company does not offer.

Pippin Plassey was a people pleaser, and a proficient perfectionist persistently polishing projects past the performance protocol of his place of profit.

In Pippin's mind, he was just too nice. He loved all forms of life and loved when people were happy. That was his only curse- loving people too much. Pippin would curse himself in times of despair, deducing that all his problems come from him just being too good of a person.

Stressed from work, Pippin calls his friend Paul up and asks if he still has any Xanax left. His friends say he does and offers an invitation to his home only two minutes of driving away. Pippin is tired of taking the frustrations of work home with him but he simply cannot shake it. He feels he is disappointing his customers and fears that he may be neglecting some. Overall, Pippin cannot relax and knows that benzos are a way for him to at least take a break and unwind.

Several months and mooched Xanax bars later, Pippin begins feeling bad for always using Paul for his drugs. He begins doing extracurricular favors for Paul and does all he can to make him feel loved and respected. Pippin is pleased to pay Paul to pop pills but still fears that his friend may start to believe Pippin is using him. Pippin strategically visits Paul, and drops the pill request after a calculated time delay; sometimes Pippin visits Paul wanting the Xanax, but doesn't ask because he wants to log hang-out sessions with Paul that don't include him asking for drugs.

Pippin wouldn't need to feel like he needs to take the edge off if he wasn't so nice. Why does he have to be such a good person to all his customers at work? My curse is being too loving, Pippin would think to himself.

Paul begins to suspect Pippin is merely using him for his benzo prescription and cuts him off completely after a hostile argument. Pippin finds himself alone, withdrawing from his drug abuse, feeling like he doesn't know how to express himself or feel emotionally comfortable without an external boost.

Not knowing another route to the drugs, Pippin began feeling intensely scared. He cannot concentrate, and cannot possibly deal with the further challenges that his job brings. He texts his boss and goodbye message, officially stepping down.

Pippin visits a Narcotics Anonymous meeting, no longer being able to tolerate the horrific pain and anxiety-driven energy and fear that comes from the withdrawal effects. He meets a regular there who offers to become his sponsor, and he tells Pippin something that had never occurred to him before.

Pippin Plassey was a people pleaser, and that wasn't a good thing. It meant he was manipulative and cunning with others, playing at their strings forming and fitting to whatever character he believes best suits him and his greater good. It also meant he wasn't able to channel his emotions properly, and the drugs were something that gave him relief from undesirable thinking.

He was able to accept it as truth. Pippin wasn't too nice- Pippin was manipulative. He begins working with his newfound program of recovery, learning the tools of boundaries and the inevitable responsibility of rejecting others.

Pippin Plassey was afraid of others dislikinghim, and in turn, became someone he himself disliked. Self-love and gratitudepresented Pippin Plassey with the pleasure of peace, and the joy of being ableto express himself. Without properly identifying the problem, Pippin couldn'tdiscover the solution. Pippin learned and respected the value of identifyingcharacter defects by their true names, and not minimizing their inevitableimpacts.