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When do i get to stop making everyone else happy?

262 Answers
Last Updated: 04/13/2022 at 10:09am
1 Tip to Feel Better
United States
Moderated by

Jessica McDaniel, LPC, LCPC

Licensed Professional Counselor

I have been practicing cognitive behavioral psychotherapy since 2007 with a diverse group of adult clients with various diagnoses, all races, and socioeconomic classes.

Top Rated Answers
Anonymous
August 17th, 2018 2:50pm
You get to stop making everyone else happy, when you decide you want to stop pleasing everyone else before yourself. In this case you need to learn some healthy boundaries for yourself. Boundaries are very important in any relationship, whether it's with friends, your partner, or your family. Boundaries are important for your own self-esteem and you'll learn a lot about yourself and your needs and desires, what you want and what you don't want in any kind of relationship you have in your life. It doesn't make you a bad person for saying no to someone and setting your own boundaries.
Anonymous
August 22nd, 2018 1:51am
Your goal in life should not be to make others happy, it should be to make yourself happy. You should come first, always. You are the only you there is, so you need to take care of yourself and make sure you are happy. Worrying about others, while nice, should not be your main goal in life. It should be to create something of yourself, it should be to make you happy, to leave the world a better place. Do not put your self worth into how many people you have made happy. Because you aren't worrying about the most important person; you.
jmohamadhar1
August 30th, 2018 2:52pm
The moment you have to stop making everyone else is happy when you start to feel really unhappy and dissatisfied with whatever good deeds you’re doing. It is such an amazing act to be selfless and cares for others more than yourself. To put others first before yourself. To make others happy. The thing is, if you feel very happy while making others happy, good for you! But, life isn’t always like that. Not everybody appreciates you the way yo do towards them. Some people might just want to “use” you for their own benefits, may not be harmful, but definitely not something that you’ll like. Despite being such a wonderful person you are by making everyone happy, you need to remember to love yourself. Say “no” when you don’t want to do something. Don’t feel bad for your decisions. You know yourself best.
Anonymous
September 5th, 2018 5:22pm
When I care for myself and love myself, have good self-esteem and will power, and able to manage my emotions. Should think about myself and be happy. Making everyone else happy is not a wrong thing, but not at the cost of me not being what I want to be. This is not being greedy, but sometimes, I do need to be practical and ensure I take care of myself as well. I need to understand my needs, what I want, how I want to handle my life and go about and cannot please everyone all the time.
pplloveu
September 26th, 2018 12:59pm
Good question, whenever you want. You’re not forced to do anything that you don’t want to it’s completely your choice. But remember to fully help people sometimes you have to help your self first. And that is okay take some time for yourself it is very important to see you better than nothing. And I get that you want to put others before you, just try taking a few minutes out of each day for some time for you. And slowly start to increase it a bit. Find a time that you are comfortable with and stay with that time.
Anonymous
October 13th, 2018 12:42am
Well that is a very very very good question. I myself have a very bad habit of putting everyone else's happiness before mine. It is a very hard thing to put yourself first. I myself sometimes feel bad when I put myself first,then get mad at myself for putting others first. At some point we have to tell ourselves that it is ok to be happy and make ourselves happy, to put our needs first, to put our happiness first. When we can realize this, this is when we can let ourselves be truly happy first. We can't help anybody else if we can't help ourselves first.
florenraph
November 2nd, 2018 4:46am
I think the one thing that's the most difficult when trying to find yourself or become who you truly is are, is understanding the fact that you don't need to make everyone else happy. It's isn't a set clear time as to when that happens. It's always a difficult battle between whether I have enough strength to see that if I can make myself happy for me, then the opinions and thoughts that everyone else has of me do not really matter. I think it is very tough to try and get to this point but we all strive for it.
Anonymous
November 7th, 2018 4:34pm
Never I will not ever stop helping people, we are all human and we need to support each other. When I’m going through a tough time, someone is there to help me, so when somebody else needs someone we as humans should be there through thick and thin to help each other. They say we are the most advanced mammal but we are still not there for each other, most of us now are on our phones (blocking the world out) or judging each other which can make our lives worse if you are the victim OR the bully.
Anonymous
November 11th, 2018 4:20pm
(I mean I am not an expert in this situation but still, Here goes.) When you decide to put your happiness first.. it’s important and never make it your option. Make it your priority. It’s not an opportunity that will come to you, but rather it’s a change that you must make yourself. It’s not when you will get to stop but it when you will stop making everyone happy. I hope this message helped you and that maybe I helped you solve your question. I tried as much as I could. Have a nice day/night! It’s was nice talking!
omnie123annie
November 28th, 2018 9:38am
Whenever you want! You are in charge of your own life, so you do what makes YOU happy. Remember, we only live once and once that’s over, it’s over unless you start believing in those theories that we live again and again but in a new body or afterlife. So don’t waste your life trying hard to PLEASE others. Please yourself. Go skydiving. Swim in lava. Try bungee jumping. Get a pilot’s license. Do things that can be done instead of moping around on a couch. Enjoy life, even though its hard. Hope that helped
SaltWaterSoul
November 29th, 2018 6:14pm
Today. We will never be able to make everyone else happy, as each person is responsible for their own happiness. The more we try to take responsibility for the happiness of others, the more we are destined to fail. The more we take care of ourselves, and seek our own peace and joy, the more we actually have to offer others. Letting go of the idea that we can make others happy is a powerful step in self-growth. There is nothing wrong with wanting others around you to be happy, but accept that whether they are or not is beyond your control.
braveEagle17
December 5th, 2018 8:55am
From my experience it is when you realise that to make others happy you need to be happy too. Your well needs to be filled to be able to give to others. Learning about boundaries is a way to get to this point of realising that by making everyone else happy, you lose yourself. It is a choice you have to make to be happy and still make others happy. You also have to think whether it is realistic to want to make everyone happy. If making others happy is important to you, it is about finding balance between being happy and still making others happy.
Anonymous
January 5th, 2019 6:39pm
Honestly, why woud you want to make others happy? When you make others happy you get good feelings yourself. It is of course something else,when you dedicate your life to it. What you need to find is a good amount of healthy egoism. Yes, selfishness can be good, in a cerain amount. That is the amount that allows you to say ˝no,˝ when it comes to you having to do something that makes you uncomfortable, sad, scared... So all you have to do is learn how to stand up for yourself! Start to respect yoursef. And do not dedicate your life to makng others happy. First you have to take care of yourself. If you are not okay, you can't help others.
Anonymous
January 6th, 2019 8:05am
When they stop caring about you. When they take too much advantage from you. When they make you depressed or miserable. When they don't appreciate you. When they lost their senses of humanity. When they become selfish. When they don't take everything seriously. When they act injustice to people. When they not giving what supposed to be your right. When you can't sleep at night. When you have your tears down your face. When you feel pain in your chest. When you want to stop taking care of yourself. When you kill your own feeling to meet the criteria.
Anonymous
February 7th, 2019 5:40pm
Wanting to make everyone else in your life happy is very normal and can be a good thing if done when you have the correct priorities. The most important person is your life is you. Make sure you are okay and comfortable with your own feelings and how to deal with your feelings appropriately before you try to help everyone else in your life. This is a positive thing and something the people in your life will appreciate but they will also appreciate you helping yourself first. The help you give your friends and family will be much more effective if you aren't feeling down.
Giselle7
February 17th, 2019 5:38am
When you realise that it is an impossible feat. There will always be someone who will not be pleased with what you have said or done. All you can do is to give it your best shot. Often it is easy to forget that your happiness is important too in the rush to make everybody else happy. Ask yourself if you have taken the time to do things to make yourself happy. You cannot control how other people react to you. Let it go and live a little. Your happiness is more important than pleasing other people. The more you try to please others, the more miserable you will be.
Nukfi
February 24th, 2019 7:06pm
When you don't feel to do it, emotionally speaking... You go first, you must take care of yourself to do it to other people. If not, you won't be able to do it for yourself and for the other person. We all must take care of ourselves. This way, we will do other things much better, taking care of other people included. I realized this years ago, and I'm still learning to do it. It is not easy, but, when you try this, you are putting yourserlf first, putting up your self-care. It's not selfish: it is necessary. It's a must,
BetterToday92
March 27th, 2019 2:29am
You never have to make everyone else happy. Your question makes me think you are not happy. If that is true, remember back to a time you were happy. What did you like about that time? What could you recreate in your life now that you think would make you happy? Something that might be good as a way to start thinking about to recreate happiness for ourselves is to think of the idea of balance. Ask yourself when you felt like you had achieved balance between striving and resting, between do what you need and helping others on their journeys, etc. It might be that your life is out of balance right now and that you need to claim more space for yourself. I suspect, deep down, you know the conversations you need to have with people to get more space and time to spend doing things that make you happy.
psychedusoleil
May 2nd, 2019 5:54pm
It all begins with realizing how trying to make everyone else happy drains and wears you out till your bones. We do not have to make anyone happy. We're responsible only for our own happiness. We also must remember that we can't pour from an empty cup, first we have to fill our own cup so that we can provide love and happiness for others. Loving and making ourselves happy let us show others love and compassion. However, if we skip ourselves and only focus on making others happy, we will never succeed, because you can give people only what you have in you.
windfox3
June 14th, 2019 5:54am
Right now! You have to embrace the path to your own happiness. It is only we, ourselves who can make us happy, only we ourselves who can fulfill the dreams that we desire. We cannot complete another person's happiness, only our own. Likewise, other people must pursue their path of happiness and stop trying to use us or our efforts as a crutch or excuse as to why they are not happy. Every person is responsible for their own happiness, if they are making choices that make them unhappy, that is their own problem. They must find accountability for their poor decisions and rise up to the challenge to make better future choices that feed into their own happiness.
Anonymous
June 27th, 2019 3:14pm
My personal opinion is that you need to stop trying to make everyone happy, when you get hurt, or about to get hurt. I think it's fair that you want to make everyone happy, cause who doesn't want everyone to be happy? But if you eventually gets hurt by other peoples action because they do not care about how much you help them, then I think it's time to stop working your ass off to please them. Helping other people might be a really good thing, indeed. But to care about others, you gotta care about yourself too. If you get nothing back but shit, then it's time to stop.
Anonymous
August 17th, 2019 5:02pm
It's impossible to make everyone happy, because we're the same persons. You get to stop when you realize you put an impossible task on yourself that is un achievable and realize it's unnecessary and dumb to try and make everyone happy. No matter what there is always someone who isn't happy, and there's nothing you can do to it.
MissLisa
August 22nd, 2019 8:49pm
You can only make everyone else around you happy when you yourself are happy and in a good place. You need to prioritise your own happiness and wellbeing. If you are not in a good place, you won’t be any help to those around you. Putting your own needs first is a very responsible step to take. This shows maturity and understanding for wellness. It is like in a plane they always tell you to fit your own life jacket and mask before helping others. It is the same principle, help yourself be happy, before helping those around you.
lovelyHope20
October 7th, 2019 3:44pm
Right now. This moment. Right when your eyes hit these words your obligation to make other people happy, stops. Everything that led up to you believing that you had to do whatever you could to make other people happy, is forgotten, in the past, exposed as a lie. Everything you believe about yourself and about how you should function in this world is erased and you start fresh. You have a clean slate. you get to pick what you do now. You get to pick who you invest in, yourself or other people. Right now you have the control over your life back in your own hands. Every choice you make is your own now, not motivated by manipulation and lies from your past, but by truths you know about yourself. You are valuable. You are worthy of love. You are worthy of happiness. You are strong. You are in control of your own decisions. You know what makes you happy and you are able to do what needs to be done.
Anonymous
October 9th, 2019 3:43am
As soon as you decide to. One thing that needs to be learned the hard way is that you CANNOT make everyone happy. It's just not possible. But what you can do is focus on your happiness. If you try and make sure that you are happy and the best person you can be then, you will have a positive impact on those around you which will ripple outwards. So instead of worrying about other people's happiness- worry about your own. It will be hard to start with because automatic instinct is to help others but, it will be so worth it.
Anonymous
November 3rd, 2019 11:25pm
You stop when making everyone else happy, get's in the way of your own health. You should always try your best to make everyone feel good, but there is always a stopping point. Your own health and happiness comes first. Often we feel as though we must make every single person satisfied, but that is not possible. You can't expect to help everyone. Though we can all try to lift each other up together. It is important to look after yourself too - especially if you are not feeling happy - as if you aren't happy, you can't expect to make others happy. In short terms, you stop, when you no longer are happy.
Anonymous
December 4th, 2019 7:57am
Making others happy gives you pleasure and peace. But before doing that you should figure out your own happiness, making your self happy should be your first priority so that you can feel great inside and out. Helping someone encourages you to do better but you need to be encouraged and joyful before going to help someone. You can't hide all your worries and pretend like you're fine. Self-care should take first place in your list cause it helps with your mental well being and that's more important to this world. Be encouraged, mindful and determined. Sending luck, peace and love. PEACE to you all.
aussiesarah
December 12th, 2019 6:32am
Whenever you decide to. You may feel like you have an obligation to others, to make them happy, even to be happy yourself. But that is just a construct. There is no law that says you have too, no penalty if you don't. You need to do what is best for YOURSELF. Make decisions and do things for you, not others. Focus on your own happiness and in return, you'll probably make others happy without needing to try. And if not, then it doesn't matter. Everyone is responsible for trying to create their own happiness. It's not your responsibility to make them happy.
haikyouz
December 13th, 2019 11:43pm
Though it may be tough to wrap your head around, you do not always need to do things to make people happy. Some people will always be dissatisfied with things you do, and that's okay! What you should really focusing on is doing things that make YOU happy. Your happiness is the only thing you always have control over, and you are not required to make people happy if it's wearing you down or making you unhappy. Sometimes, it may feel like you need to meet everyone's expectations and make sure they're content, and though it's always great to go out of your way to be good to other people, you should always make your own goals and expectations number one.
JSBrian
December 21st, 2019 4:57am
The answer begins in the question. It seems that you spend most of your time making people happy instead of taking the necessary time for yourself, causing discontent and sadness (if you are making people happy because that is their expectation of you or you are being bullied, then please clarify). Why do always have to make everyone happy (not rhetorical)? Have you thought about why you assume this role and continue to do so despite knowing its effects? If so, what are the reasons? Also, how does it make you feel in the moment? How long does that feeling last before you start to feel unhappy again? There could be a variety of reasons why, and I am not going to pretend to know your life nor your business. If you continue to assume that role, group dynamics suggests you will continue to keep that role until something significant changes; you may be making your friends happy as a function, not as a genuine gesture. Have you mentioned this to any of your friends? Also, have you asked yourself how much of your self worth and identity are tied to being the "nice one"? Performing a perfunctory act for, say, validation, could be manifesting a larger problem with which I am not equipped to deal. Journaling and outlining your feelings when you are alone and every time that you do something "nice" for someone else (more than the who, what, when ... still important), but with the effects, duration, time of subsequent act, etc. it will potentially provide a solid data set to help identify a root cause(s) of the reasons why you focus on the happiness at the expense of your own. Your friends, partner, parents, (a) therapist, etc. are in much better positions to help at this point. If you have been as good to your friends and have made them as happy as you mentioned, leverage them as resources and talk to them about how you are feeling; they should have no problem reciprocating - if not, you have a cause. And if the feelings run deeper, talk to a therapist or counselor in addition to your friends and to whomever else you speak.