People Appeaser

On my 3 hour drive which started at 5 a.m. to a cross country meet... well, lets just say I had a great deal of time to think.
Out of all the thoughts I had, the one that I knew I needed to remember and put down into cyber space was quite an epiphany.
I am a people appeaser... have been my whole life as I have reflected.
What do I mean by this?  Its quite simple actually.  It seems that one of the major driving forces behind the majority of my actions has always been geared toward not making people upset.  I hate making anyone upset or angry or to even see people in those states.  So much has my basic fear of seeing people upset or angry that in the 5th grade I would make myself sick so I did not have to switch to the advanced English teacher for fear of the teacher yelling and getting upset with my classmates.  I have a hard time watching, predominately on TV or in movies, people who I know are leading themselves or others into something that will greatly upset them.
This is not entirely a bad thing, not wanting to make people upset.  My problem as I see it though is that this fear has kept me many times from possibly bringing joy to people.  Times when a simple "hello" or "hi" could brighten someones day, I keep quite for fear of making them feel awkward or that somehow my simple greeting will disturb them.  Times when I could have been more cordial and made conversation with people, again, I keep quiet for the same reasons.
There are also times when fear of upsetting people has kept me from confronting them about a wrong they were presently committing or had committed.  Again, my fear of upsetting gets in the way of doing something right and true, that should be done.
I do this everyday, and as a teacher these situations come up quite often and for the life of me I fail way too often.  Fear that people will be upset, and the most horrible of all, that they would be upset with me, is one of my biggest hindrances to being the follower of Christ I need to be.
Again, I guess I need to keep praying for humility... it's not about me... it's about goodness, truth and beauty... it's about God.

Pax all.