When Being Good Costs You: A Practical Guide to People-Pleasing, Boundaries, and Self-Trust

Do you say yes before checking your calendar, hide simple preferences, or feel guilty when someone is disappointed? When Being Good Costs You is a clear, practical guide for caring people who are tired of confusing kindness with automatic agreement. Through familiar situations and short exercises, Soren Thale shows you how to: - recognize the private rules behind people-pleasing - notice when you leave yourself out of a decision - pause before committing your time, money, or energy - say no clearly without overexplaining - build boundaries around actions you can control - make room for guilt and repair real mistakes - rebuild self-trust and choose generosity deliberately Kindness stays central throughout. The work is to bring your time, capacity, and judgment back into the conversation, tell >Whether the pattern appears with family, friends, partners, or coworkers, this book gives you practical language and repeatable steps for responding differently.