Do you feel like your partner is your entire world? Are you constantly exhausted by the effort it takes to keep your relationship alive? Do you often have to make extreme sacrifices to meet your partner’s needs? Are you constantly enabling their bad behaviors by shielding them from the consequences of their actions? Do you take on most or all of the responsibility in the relationship? Is your entire life built around pleasing your partner? All these are symptoms of codependency and it can do a world of harm to you, your significant other, and your relationship

What’s wrong with codependent relationships?
Mental health means taking care of ourselves and others. We should never have to choose one over the other as an ongoing way of relating to someone.

Living for and through others leaves us with not much of a life of our own because our value solely depends on their well-being.

When we lose ourselves in another person, we surrender our authenticity, sense of self-worth, and efficacy. And, since we can’t control others’ happiness, we end up on a fool’s errand.

How does someone become Codependent?

Codependency is often rooted in adverse childhood experiences (ACE). A person can become codependent when they take on an inappropriate emotional responsibility or they are ‘parentified’ (being placed in a parental role at a young age) in order to survive a traumatic upbringing.

When this happens the person – often the child – will begin to neglect and forsake their needs for the sake of another’s – usually the parent.

Unfortunately, this becomes a learned behavior that on the one hand helps you survive your childhood, but sets you up to struggle to maintain healthy relationships as an adult. And all too often, a parent is either over or under protective which encourages in unhealthy ways for the child to become codependent.

But having an awareness and understanding of codependence can help you find clarity and peace in your relationships, which can be the path to being less codependent. Don’t forget – change IS possible.

Can you love someone if you’re codependent?

Without question, you can love someone if you’re codependent on them. Love isn’t a simple “yes or no” type of feeling, it is not codependency vs love. You can love someone who is incredible for you, but you can also love someone who is detrimental to you. Click to continue reading https://uwagood.com/2022/10/20/can-a-codependent-relationship-work-can-you-love-someone-if-youre-codependent/