You don’t always have to be the nice girl. Not when it means accepting less than you deserve. Not when it means allowing others to walk over you. Not when it means sacrificing your own happiness to make the people around you more comfortable.
Stop playing nice in order to keep the peace. Especially when it’s disturbing your peace.
Why do you feel like everyone else’s feelings matter more than your own? Why do you feel like you aren’t allowed to express an emotion other than gratitude? If anyone around you felt uncomfortable, you would want them to speak up. You would want them to feel safe sharing their story. You would want to hear the truth instead of a pretty little lie. So why aren’t you extending that same sense of kindness to yourself? Why are you holding back your emotions when they’re causing you so much pain deep down inside? Why are you pretending everything is fine when you aren’t sure whether you can take another second without bursting into tears?
You don’t need to play nice when others have pushed you to your breaking point, when they’re playing mind games with you, when they’re actively disrespecting you.
You don’t have to sit back and allow other people to hurt you in order to avoid drama. If they’ve crossed a line, there already is drama. And you’re allowed to tell them how unhappy you are with their behavior. That way, they know not to make the same mistake again. Otherwise, they might assume you really are fine. They might not get the hint.
Of course, when you stop playing nice, some people are going to get annoyed with you. They’re going to act like you’re being completely unreasonable or accuse you of changing. But really, they’re just upset you aren’t allowing them to take advantage of you anymore. Really, they’re frustrated that they’re no longer getting away with their bullshit.
Remember, you don’t have to be the nice girl who stays quiet, even when you’re suffering inside. You don’t have to be the nice girl who forgives everyone who does you wrong. You don’t have to be the nice girl who claims you’re fine, despite everything you’re going through.
You don’t have to be the nice girl when other people are treating you poorly. You don’t have to let their mean streak continue. You can speak up — or you can remove yourself from the situation. You can cut the toxic people out of your life without another thought. You can search for others who understand you, who would never dream of making you feel uncomfortable. Because those are the types of people you deserve to be around, anyway.
Most of the time, you should be proud of yourself for being such a nice, sweet, caring person — but there’s always a limit. You shouldn’t allow anyone to mistreat you, simply because you’re scared of causing a scene. You shouldn’t keep the wrong people in your world for the sake of seeming nice.
