Pep Talk | Why You’ll Never Please Everyone at Christmas (And Why You Should Stop Trying)

Motherkind

Zoe Blaskey

Kids & Family, Parenting

4.8 • 863 Ratings

🗓️ 15 December 2025

⏱️ 9 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

If your December feels like one long attempt to keep everyone happy, here’s the truth: you never will — and it’s costing you more than you realise. So many mothers are exhausted before Christmas has even begun—pulled in every direction, saying yes to everything, and trying desperately to keep everyone happy. If that’s you, you’re absolutely not alone… and this pep talk is for you. In the third of our December Pep talk series, Zoe unpacks the pressure to please everyone at Christmas, why so many of us fall into this pattern, and how to break free so you can actually enjoy the magic you’re creating for everyone else In this pep talk, you’ll hear: Why it’s literally impossible to please everyone (and why we keep trying anyway) How being raised as “good girls” trained us to put ourselves lastThe real cost of people-pleasing — burnout, resentment, disconnection Three powerful questions to help you reclaim your energyOne simple challenge to start shifting the pattern today You can’t please everyone—and you don’t need to. This Christmas, start by asking yourself: What do I need? What do I really want? What am I doing only because I think I should? Then choose one small change that brings you closer to a calmer, more connected holiday season. You deserve it. Remember to subscribe to Motherkind — it helps more mothers find the show and keeps our community growing. Feeling like you’re carrying it all? Download your FREE Mental Load Cheat Sheet and learn how to start feeling lighter, even if nothing in your life changes. Connect with Zoe: Follow Zoe on Instagram Get Zoe’s Sunday Times bestselling book, 'Motherkind: A New Way to Thrive in a World of Endless Expectations’ This Motherkind episode is sponsored by: Headline sponsor Wild Nutrition, the brand raising the bar for women’s supplements. Want to feel the Food-Grown difference yourself? Get 50% off for three months at wildnutrition.com/motherkind. Ts and Cs apply. For a £100 sponsored job credit, visit Indeed.com/ Motherkind Get 15% off OneSkin with the code MOTHERKIND at https://www.oneskin.co/motherkind Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, it's Zoe. Welcome back to Motherkind. We are sponsored by wild nutrition's women's supplements.
0:13.5	And every Monday in December, I'm going to give you a little pep talk because let's be honest,
0:17.8	December is the Mental Load Olympics. Everything ramps up. And I want to be a
0:22.2	voice that is the antidote to all the Christmas pressure and perfection. And today we're talking
0:28.7	about something that is draining so many of us at Christmas and in December. It is trying to please
0:35.9	everyone. Almost every mother I'm speaking to right now is
0:39.2	exhausted. So you're not alone if that's you too. And also, then you need this episode because
0:45.2	you deserve to enjoy some of the magic that you are creating for everyone else. You really do
0:50.2	deserve to enjoy it too. Okay. People pleasing. You literally cannot please everyone. I know this
0:57.5	sounds obvious, but sometimes I really need to hear that. So I'm guessing you might really need to hear that too.
1:02.7	It is impossible to please everyone. You have limited time, limited energy and limited capacity.
1:08.3	And every yes you give to someone is a no to something else,
1:12.0	usually to yourself. If you say yes to going somewhere you don't really want to go,
1:16.6	you say yes to hosting when you're already exhausted, you say yes to just one more thing
1:21.5	for the kids for school or for family. What happens is that you very quickly start to feel stretched
1:27.2	too thin. You might even start to
1:30.8	feel resentful and you're actually not enjoying any of it. So what is the point? So you cannot please
1:38.6	everyone. Where this is so fascinating is that many of us, particularly us millennial mothers,
1:45.3	were actually trained to please. So if you recognise this, people please a tendency, there's usually a reason. Most of us
1:51.4	were actually raised to be what I call good girls. Don't make a fuss. Don't upset anyone. Say yes.
1:59.2	Make yourself uncomfortable over making someone else uncomfortable.
2:05.1	Ignore what you really feel if it might make it awkward for someone else. Many of us were
	...

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