When Are We Caring Too Much

While caring involves genuine concern and support for someone else, codependency is an unhealthy pattern where someone derives their self-worth from excessively taking care of another person, often to the point of neglecting their own needs and boundaries, creating a dynamic where they feel responsible for the other person's happiness and well-being, even if it means enabling negative behaviors; essentially, caring is about healthy support, while codependency is about unhealthy dependence and a lack of self-care in the name of helping others. 

Caring stems from genuine empathy and a desire to help, while codependency is often driven by a need to be needed, fear of abandonment, or low self-esteem. A caring person maintains healthy boundaries, respecting the other person's autonomy, while a codependent person may blur boundaries and become overly involved in the other person's life. Caring allows someone to maintain a sense of self and well-being, while codependency can lead to feelings of exhaustion, resentment, and a lack of personal identity. 

By definition, caring is a process of offering emotional support to a friend going through a difficult time, while also encouraging them to seek professional help if needed. On the other hand, codependency is defined as feeling responsible for your partner's happiness and constantly trying to fix their problems, even if it means covering up their mistakes or making excuses for them. Essentially, make sure you care enough about YOURSELF not to care about others more than yourself.