S7EP2: Stop People-Pleasing and Start Protecting Your Peace: Boundaries, Standards & Intentional Parenting with Shay Drapeau
3 Reasons Why This Episode Is for You
Learn how to shift from people-pleasing to setting boundaries and standards. This episode shares Shay's personal transformation and recovery from people-pleasing, including the empowering steps of learning to say "no," resigning from volunteer roles, and discerning the difference between boundaries (protected time) and standards (integrity and values).
Discover the importance of prioritizing the "community of self" through solo time. You'll hear advice on the need to "date yourself" and spend time alone to recognize your needs, what you like, and what personal standards you will and will not accept, which is essential for emotional awareness.
Get key wisdom for moms on emotional regulation and passion. Shay shares advice for moms, encouraging them to "breathe life into something you are passionate about" and, most importantly, to allow children to experience and name their emotions — teaching them what they need instead of trying to fix their sadness or anger.
Episode Summary
You know that moment when you realize you've said "yes" to everyone else's needs — and completely forgot about your own?
Maybe it's saying yes to yet another volunteer commitment when your calendar is already overflowing. Maybe it's staying silent when someone crosses a line because you don't want to rock the boat. Or maybe it's looking in the mirror and genuinely not remembering the last time you did something purely for you.
Sound familiar? I sure know that feeling.
Here's what I want you to know: people-pleasing isn't just a habit — it's a survival strategy and behavior that moms have been conditioned to act upon, like a hamster constantly running on the never-ending hamster wheel.
And the cost? Your peace, your identity, and your sense of self.And the cost? Your peace, your identity, and your sense of self.
In this powerful conversation, I sit down with Shay Michelle Drapeau — 3-time bestselling author, coach, and boundary advocate — for a deeply honest dialogue about what it actually looks like to stop over-giving and start protecting your peace.
Shay shares her personal journey of recovering from people-pleasing, and the specific steps she took to get there — including the courageous act of resigning from commitments that no longer aligned with who she was becoming. But here's the thing — she also gives us a distinction that changes everything: the difference between boundaries (your protected time) and standards (your integrity and values). Both matter. And learning to honor both is how you stop living life on everyone else's terms.
The conversation also goes deep on what Shay calls the community of self — the practice of "dating yourself" to cultivate the emotional awareness you need to recognize what you want, what you need, and what you will and will not accept in your life. Because you can't pour from a cup you've never taken the time to fill.
And for the mamas trying to figure out how to parent when your kids’ emotions are running high? Shay's wisdom on emotional regulation in children — allowing them to feel and name their emotions instead of rushing to fix them — is the kind of intentional parenting insight that you won’t forget.
You deserve a life that's guided by your own values — not everyone else's expectations. This episode will help you get there.
About Shay Drapeau
Shay Michelle Drapeau is a 3-time bestselling author, coach, crochet enthusiast, and boundary advocate helping women stop feeling guilty for protecting their peace. Her workshop, Letters To My Emotions, currently touring libraries throughout Westchester, NY, helps women reconnect with themselves through storytelling, reflection, and emotional healing.
Her signature workshop, Boundaries Without Guilt™, teaches women in personal and professional leadership how to stop over-explaining, stop people-pleasing, and finally say no without spiraling afterward. If your boundaries are constantly being tested, Shay's got the script, the strategy, and the system to make them stick.
Connect with Shay
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/sharondrapeau
Website: www.shebreatheslife.com
Connect with Host Jocelyn Auyeung:
Jocelyn Auyeung is a Life and Career Transitions Coach (ICF PCC) helping people trust their intuition while honoring the reality of their life as they navigate major life and career transitions — so they can move forward with both clarity and alignment. A former educator, mom of two (yes, a tween AND a teen — she's in it), and the host of the Empowered Working Mom Revolution podcast, Jocelyn brings both professional expertise and lived experience to every conversation.
Website: jocelynauyeung.com
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jocelynauyeungcoach
Podcast Website: empoweredworkingmomrevolution.com
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