Do you only feel okay when everyone around you is okay?
If someone is upset..you feel responsible.
If someone is disappointed...you rush to fix it.
If someone pulls away..your nervous system goes into overdrive.
That's what I call other-validated intimacy.
Your emotional state depends on everyone else's emotional state.
The problem is that people can feel that.
And then they start believing it's their job to make you okay so they can finally relax.
Healthy relationships work differently.
You know you're okay—even when someone else is having a hard day, feeling disappointed, or working through their own emotions.
That doesn't make you uncaring.
It makes it possible to love someone without carrying emotions that were never yours to carry.
❤️ Save this if you've spent your life trying to keep everyone else okay.
#relationships #peoplepleasing #emotionalmaturity #therapy #mentalhealth #managingemotions
