5 Ways to Break Free from Codependency and Embrace Interdependence

Do you feel like your happiness is solely dependent on others' approval or that you sacrifice your needs to prioritize someone else's? Do you feel responsible for how others choose to behave? Do you feel guilty for having needs? If so, you may be struggling with codependency, a complex pattern of learned behaviors that can affect our mental and emotional well-being.

Codependency can trap us in destructive relationships that are, at best, one-sided or abusive. When stuck inside this relational dynamic, it can feel overwhelming to imagine breaking free from what feels like our own self-created prison of being needed.

Addressing codependency requires a multifaceted approach, and it will be helpful to seek out individual or group therapy that focuses on supporting individuals who are codependent in your efforts toward change.

When beginning the complex process of changing our relational patterns, it can be helpful to understand what this process looks like and how it will shape us.

Here are five ways to break out of codependence:

1. Increasing Self-Awareness: The first step to healing is recognizing and acknowledging the presence of codependency in your life. A journey of self-discovery can help you identify underlying patterns and triggers that contribute to codependent behaviors. Codependency often has its origins in our past and has contributed to our safety and survival in our lives while also trapping us in unhealthy relationships. Healing from these experiences may be a critical element in letting go of the patterns we are locked into.

2. Setting Healthy Boundaries: Boundary setting is a skill crucial for maintaining balanced relationships and critical to establishing independence while maintaining healthy interdependence.

3. Unearthing Your Authentic Self: Embrace your true self! Codependency often leads us to reject many of our needs apart from the feeling of being needed. Being able to explore your needs, desires, and passions without guilt or shame can feel selfish, but it is also liberating. Reconnecting with your authentic identity is the goal and the reward of breaking free from codependency.

4. Cultivating Self-Care: Prioritizing self-care is a revolutionary act of love for yourself. Our mental health experts will guide you in nurturing your mind, body, and soul, teaching you effective self-care practices that build resilience and promote well-being.

5. Fostering Independence and Interdependence: It can be challenging to navigate the fine line between exclusive independence and dependence. However, if we stay the course, we can reach our relational destination: interdependence. Interdependence allows us to rely on ourselves as capable and autonomous individuals. Still, it also permits us to be vulnerable with others, supporting them and being supported by them in return. All of this is confined within boundaries that maintain the safety of both people, providing fertile ground for mutually beneficial connections that grow with the people inside that relationship.

I will emphasize that it will be necessary to reach out to someone or a group of people for support in your efforts to escape codependency and move to interdependence. Being able to acknowledge and share your needs with another person is at the foundation of change.

If you're reading this now and feel trapped in a codependent relationship, I would challenge you to reach out to someone who can help you escape. Start a journey to healthier relationships by contacting a the

rapist or a codependency support group, and take the opportunity to value the incredible person that you are.

If you are part of our community, please know that Prism Point Counseling is here to provide support. We would be glad to assist you on your journey or direct you to resources that may be helpful in that process.

Contact us today!