True Story London Podcast 17 - Long Distance People Pleasing w/Maria Shehata
Falling in Love Remotely
- Maria fell in love with someone over FaceTime across the Atlantic for six months before meeting in person.
- Upon meeting, fundamental differences and problems led to them quickly falling out of love and breaking up.
In-Person Reality Reveals Truth
- Maria realized you can't truly know who someone is until you're in an in-person relationship.
- Online connections can feel like love but often miss key elements only found face-to-face.
Why Saying Yes to Love Was Actually People Pleasing
Maria Shehata reveals that her engagement was less about love and more about people pleasing. She explains that she said yes to the proposal not out of excitement but because she didn't want to hurt her fiancé's feelings.
She connects this behavior to a broader pattern of self-abandonment driven by the desire to please others — including her parents — which kept her in a childlike mindset and influenced her life choices deeply.
Maria shares the emotional struggle of realizing she wasn't truly happy in the relationship, describing moments of emotional manipulation and gaslighting that helped her pinpoint that things were wrong. She reflects on the challenge of sharing painful experiences in comedy, balancing humor with vulnerability.
> "I said yes because I didn't want to say no and hurt his feelings."
> "People pleasing... you don't really care about what you feel or what you need."
> "He threw water in my face... and said I'm abusive. Huh? This isn't going to get better, is it?"
