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Aug 20, 2026
Happy to Help
Adventures of a People Pleaser
Summary
As a big sister, Girl Scout, personal assistant, sitcom sidekick, and, finally, mother of three, Amy believed it was her destiny to be a people pleaser. She learned to put others first and to look like she had everything under control, even when she very much did not.
Along the way, she started to wonder why doing it all had been her job. When she tried to hand over some of her to-dos, no one was interested in taking them. And when she asked for help in return, she got advice: have a sense of humor, quit nagging, and stop trying to be perfect.
Happy to Help: Adventures of a People Pleaser explores how you can be the one everyone else depends on and still be struggling—how you can be “happy to help,” even when, for your own sake, you shouldn’t.
Guest: Amy Wilson is the author of the memoir When Did I Get Like This? and the co-host of the award-winning podcast What the Fresh Hell. She is also an actor who has appeared on Broadway, in sitcoms and in films. Happy to Help
is her award-winning second book.
Host: Dr. Christina Gessler is an academic writing coach and editor. She is the producer and show host of the Academic Life podcast.
Playlist for listeners:
- What's On Her Mind
- Recipes for very busy lives...
- Attention: How To Gain Productivity
- Breaking free from overworking and underliving
- The Burnout Workbook
- What Do You Want Out Of Life?
- My What-if Year
- Tell Me What You Want
- Managing Your Mental Health During Your Ph.D.
- The Good- Enough Life
- PhDing While Parenting
- Mindfulness
Welcome to Academic Life, the podcast for your academic journey—and beyond! You help support the show by downloading and sharing episodes. Join us again to learn from more experts inside and outside the academy, and around the world. Missed any of the 300+ Academic Life episodes? Find them here. And thank you for listening!
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