I still remember the moment I realized I was co-dependent. Through Celebrate Recovery, I had been working on issues with control and people pleasing. However, I hadn’t quite put the full puzzle together yet. I was sitting in a breakout session at the Celebrate Recovery National Summit in 2017 and it hit me all at once. “I’m struggling with co-dependency!” My eyes welled up with tears as I processed that thought. I so desperately wanted to be a strong, independent woman and here I was – co-dependent.
I was born into a broken home, with a father recently home from the Vietnam War and a mother determined not to repeat the mistakes she experienced growing up. Life was unstable and emotional, to say the least. It didn’t take long for me to figure out the last thing my world needed was more emotional turmoil. Instead, I was determined to bring joy and approval into my life. I would earn the love my father wasn’t capable of showing and my parents would never be anything but proud of me. It was a tall order, but it made me feel powerful and in control…
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