What Is Codependency, Really?

Welcome to the first episode of Healing Our Relationships. I'm Marisa, Healer and Transformation Guide.  If you've ever felt like you're losing yourself in relationships… like you're constantly saying yes when you mean no, staying silent to avoid conflict, or feeling invisible even with the people you love most… you're not alone. Today, I want to help you begin to understand what codependency really is. Not just the clinical definitions — but the deeper truth: that codependency isn't who you are. It's something you learned to do to stay safe. In this episode, I'm sharing: How codependency often begins in childhood and becomes a survival strategy The subtle ways we abandon ourselves to avoid rejection or loss How these patterns live in our nervous systems and shape our relationships A piece of my own journey with codependency Reflection questions to help you notice where you might be leaving yourself behind My hope is that by the end of this conversation, you'll feel a little less alone… and a little more hopeful that there is a path forward. This work isn't about fixing yourself. It's about remembering who you are beneath the patterns that once kept you safe. Thanks for being here. Let's begin this journey together. Want to Dive Deeper? Get The Workbook!  PRESALE IS OPEN! USE THE PROMO CODE: PODCAST  Read the Back Cover👇 A Compassionate Guide To Understanding The Patterns That Once Protected You  Whether you know the C-word, "Codependency,"and feel ready for this book, or the word itself makes you recoil from it like a hot flame, I promise this journey will surprise you, and hopefully inspire you to pass it on to a friend. Codependency is often misunderstood. It is not just people-pleasing or insecurity, it lives on a spectrum that almost everyone dances on. It shows up in the one who over-gives and the one who withdraws, in the perfectionist, the caretaker, the person who stays guarded, and the one who has spent years abandoning themselves to keep the peace. If you have ever related to others from a place of fear rather than authenticity, this book was written for you. Inspired by the author's beloved Healing Our Relationships podcast, this workbook draws from eighteen years of lived spiritual exploration. The workbook does not ask you to see yourself as broken, or to become someone better, but simply to remember and return to the authentic truth of who you already are. Through a lens of compassionate curiosity you will explore five core areas of codependent patterns, patterns many of us adapted to survive when our needs, feelings, and truth felt unsafe to express. Each area is explored through a five-step inquiry process that reveals the pattern, honors its origin, acknowledges the cost, and re-orients you towards new possibilities. Then, it brings it all into the practice of daily life. This is where the mind stops running old patterns on autopilot, the nervous system begins to heal, and you reclaim the power of choice. You are not here to judge yourself or label yourself as being codependent. You are here to honor what once protected you and to reclaim the parts of yourself that got lost along the way. If you have spent years abandoning yourself, shape-shifting for others, staying walled off or emotionally unavailable, or repeating painful relationship patterns, this is your invitation back to the most important relationship of all- the one you have with yourself. Head to https://www.healwithalchemy.com/presale use the Promo Code: PODCAST to pre-order the book at a special discount.  Follow our NEW  instagram page @soulalchemyhealing  The book and our new website will be live June First @  www.healingourrelationships.com  Work with me 1:1 or set up a free connection call @ https://www.healwithalchemy.com/coaching