giving up caretaking as an expression of care
Many HSPs and empathic children who grow up in chaotic or dysfunctional homes often learn to fix, rescue, sacrifice, people-please as a way of coping.
This is often combined with striving, achieving, pressure to earn and provide, over-giving when growing up in situations where financial strain was an issue.
Maybe you’re the one who quietly observed while your parents and siblings regularly lost their tempers; lost their cool; lost their way.
Maybe a huge burden was placed on your shoulders by adults who didn’t (wouldn’t/couldn’t) know better.
Whatever the reason, you have carried this pattern into adulthood.
And now, the pattern has run its course.
Signs of imbalance = burn out, resentment, guilt, anxiety, constant stress and tension
The new way:
Giving / Receiving
Inhale / Exhale
Compassion for others cannot be truly experienced without first having compassion for yourself
What’s aligned is what is life-giving, energizing, where there is balance, that respects your own life force energy
Spend time exploring and honoring your purpose outside of your role of service to others
Shadow side:
Is over-giving purely a form of control?
Do you meddle in situations because you think it ‘should’ be done a certain way? That reality should conform to your expectations?
Do you fix out of habit? Does this habit allow you to avoid what you know needs to be confronted within your own life?
What feeling are you avoiding when you’re rescuing or fixing others’ problems?
Path to healing:
Acknowledge your weariness, dear one. You are so tired. Your body, nervous system are fearful of rest because it thinks something bad might happen if you were to relax. Acknowledge these fears, but know that they are not founded on truth.
Everyone has equal access to Source, Spirit, regardless of external circumstances. You can only help someone who is able and willing to help themselves (we’re talking about long-term attitude and behavioral change, here). Just think about how difficult it is to change your own habits! How could you possibly hope to enforce that on someone else?
You being in alignment with your body, nervous system, mind and spirit, resting, respecting your natural rhythms, is you showing up in the highest service to the greater good.
Do an audit of your energy in-flow and out-flow:
What is currently draining you?
Relationships, work, habits, health issues
Where are you neglecting your well-being?
What are you saying yes to that you really want to say ‘no’?
Allow yourself to shed this aspect of your identity. There will be grief, pain, sadness. But also great joy. If you are here, reading this, know that you already have the courage to explore what lies beyond it!
