Codependency Feels Like Love, but It Is Not

Codependency disguises itself as devotion. It looks like always being available, anticipating needs before they're spoken, and making someone else's wellbeing your entire project. From the outside, it can look like love. From the inside, it feels like you don't exist unless you're useful to someone.

The telltale sign: you feel responsible for another person's emotions. Their bad mood becomes your emergency. Their happiness becomes your mission. This is not closeness -- it is a loss of self. Real love lets two separate people stand next to each other. Codependency erases the line between them until neither knows where one ends and the other begins.