We can confuse love with dependency, manipulation, and neediness. None of those are love. Love is when we want other people to be who they are. - Melody Beattie

Rest when you’re tired. Take a break when life stales. Take time to recharge your battery. Energy isn’t something you have — it’s something you are. To give and give and give, to put out without taking in, depletes your battery. It drains you, runs you down.

As Thomas Wright writes in an article from the book Co-Dependency, An Emerging Issue, “I suspect codependents have historically attacked social injustice and fought for the rights of the underdog. Codependents want to help. I suspect they have helped. But they probably died thinking they didn’t do enough and were feeling guilty.

The rewards from detachment are great: serenity; a deep sense of peace; the ability to give and receive love in self-enhancing, energizing ways; and the freedom to find real solutions to our problems. We find the freedom to live our own lives without excessive feelings of guilt about, or responsibility toward others.6 Sometimes detachment even motivates and frees people around us to begin to solve their problems. We stop worrying about them, and they pick up the slack and finally start worrying about themselves. What a grand plan! We each mind our own business.