Jacob's Blessings and Aging Out of People Pleasing
About this episode
The episode explores Jacob's deathbed blessings and the societal pressures of people pleasing in middle age.
Drawing on the book "(Un)kind: How 'Be Kind' Entrenches Sexism" by Victoria Smith and Ellen Scherr's essay "The Neuroscience of Why You Suddenly Can’t Pretend Anymore," I examine Jacob's deathbed blessings to his sons, which are impartial statements of fact with neither personal commentary nor people-pleasing softening. I see in my own life the draw of middle age to convey factual statements without personal judgment, but the societal messages that everything has to be couched in uplifting, taking-care-of-others'-feelings language or you're a bad person or a bad supervisor.
People in this episode
Host: Rabbi Nadav Caine
Topics covered
- Jacob's blessings
- aging
- people pleasing
- middle age
- societal expectations
Keywords
- Jacob's blessings
- aging
- people pleasing
- societal messages
- personal judgment
Mentioned in this episode
Books & works: (Un)kind: How 'Be Kind' Entrenches Sexism, The Neuroscience of Why You Suddenly Can’t Pretend Anymore
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