Codependency

Codependent behavior can put a damper on the holiday season, sapping the joy out of it for you. If you have problems with codependency, it’s important to manage it before your gatherings with family members, which can bring out the worst feelings in you. A caring Christian counselor can help you mindfully limit your codependent behavior tendencies so you can enjoy a happier holiday. What Is Codependency? When a person struggles with codependent behavior, it means that they are caught up in a power struggle with at least one other person. You may center your world around this person, though he or she may be difficult to deal with and give you little in return. Here are a few examples for you to consider. If you see yourself in these examples, you may be codependent. A mother makes significant sacrifices of time, money, and energy to prepare her home for her adult children’s arrival. She feels like this is her primary purpose during the holidays. One sister has a hard time standing up to her sister’s pressure to attend an annual holiday event she doesn’t really enjoy. A wife goes to great lengths to cover up her husband’s drinking problem at her family’s Christmas gathering. One father often worries about his daughter’s opinion of him. He feels like he’s walking on eggshells when she comes home for the holidays. An adult daughter feels trapped as the go-between between her alcoholic father and her angry mother. Every year, a man’s father puts him down in front of family members at Christmas. But the man sweeps the problem under the rug, though each year he experiences disrupted sleep for two weeks before and after the Christmas meetup. A father turns a blind eye to his adult son’s unwillingness to find a [...]