Good morning and
welcome to Morning Cereal.
Okay, good morning
everyone and welcome to Thursday.
This is everyone's favorite day before
Friday and given that we
are all up and at them,
let's just jump straight into it with our
quote this morning
from Hailey Seinfeld who
once said, "You're only as good as the
people you surround yourself with."
Now we all spend all this time trying to
make ourselves better, right?
But don't forget that
your circle matters too.
Surround yourself with people that make
you better and lift you up.
All right, here are your four moments
that matter for December 11th.
Now this day in history back in 2008,
that is when Bernie Madoff was arrested.
Remember this?
And that was the beginning of the
unraveling of the largest
Ponzi scheme in modern history.
$65 billion.
And if you're wondering, that will get
you 150 years in prison.
All right, today's special day is
International Mountain Day.
Celebrate peaks,
progress and perspective.
And I'll have to give a quick shout out
here to Pikes Peak in Colorado.
That's my hometown mountain.
Well, the number one song on this day
back in 2003 was "Heya" by OutKast.
Now I know you all know that song.
One, two, three.
Uh, happy birthday to you
if today's your birthday.
You share a birthday
with Hailee Steinfeld.
She's 29.
Jermaine Jackson, Michael Jackson's
brother and he's a
musician too, age 71 today.
And finally, the singer that originally
sang "Rockin' Around the
Christmas Tree," Brenda
Lee, she is 80 today.
All right, that brings
us to book review time.
Mel Robbins opens this
chapter with a confession.
Many of us feel, but we rarely say out
loud in her book, "The Let Them Theory."
Quote, "I let them do whatever they
wanted and now I feel alone."
End quote.
Now this line hits the
heart of people pleasing.
When we constantly accommodate others,
neglect our own needs and
silence our own preferences,
we don't just lose connection with
people, we lose
connection with ourselves.
Right?
Robbins explains that when you quote,
"let them," at the
expense of your boundaries,
"you inadvertently train
people to expect your silence.
You teach them that your time and your
needs and your comfort are secondary."
Okay?
And over time, this creates a lopsided
relationship where you give
and you give, but you rarely
receive.
Now Robbins writes, quote, "I disappeared
to keep the peace and
in the end I lost both
the peace and myself."
End quote.
Now this section, it lays out how
friendships erode, not only from
conflict, but from imbalance.
And when one person is doing all the
emotional labor, texting
first, checking in, planning,
apologizing, you know, right?
Resentment starts to
grow quietly out of that.
Then that person becomes exhausted.
They'll start getting confused and
ultimately disconnected.
And Robbins reframes this painful
realization as a turning
point rather than a tragedy.
Quote, "When you stop over-functioning in
relationships, something amazing happens.
You see who shows up."
End quote.
Some friends, they will lean into you.
Some will drift out.
And both outcomes, they
reveal the truth for you.
Mel emphasizes that loneliness after
setting boundaries isn't
a sign you did something
wrong.
It's a sign that relationships you were
maintaining weren't sustainable.
Quote, "I didn't lose
friends," she writes.
"I lost the version of myself who
tolerated too much."
End quote.
Now Robbins encourages readers to use
this season as an
invitation to rebuild friendships
from a place of balance and authenticity.
When you show up as your full self with
needs, with opinions and
boundaries for yourself,
then the right people,
they don't disappear.
They actually get closer.
Okay, here's your Thursday takeaway.
If you lose people when you stop people
pleasing, you didn't lose
friends, you lost patterns
that were never helping you grow.
So today, take a breath, claim your
space, and climb your
mountains one step at a time.
Hey, thanks for
joining Morning Serial today.
We will see you tomorrow on a Friday.
And until then, have a fantastic day.
Don't forget to follow and subscribe to
the Morning Serial
podcast on the One Life Live
It channel.
You can find more episodes and videos by
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at seanenglish.com, where you can also
follow our other podcast,
the Mr. and Mrs. English
podcast and the Life Happens podcast.
And these other podcasts will dive deeper
into everyday issues,
self-improvement and
well-being, business and finance, and we
welcome special guests too.
So join us.
It will be a good time, I promise.
Thanks again for listening.
Have a fantastic day,
and we'll see you tomorrow.