Do You Keep Giving to People Who Don't Give Back?

Here's Why People Take Advantage of You—And How to Make It Stop Today

I walked into my first therapy session with a sick feeling in my gut. I wasn’t just in bad relationships—I was a liability to myself.

No matter what I did, I kept ending up in one-sided relationships. The pattern was too pronounced to ignore. If I stopped putting in the effort, the relationship would fall apart.

I was always the one who called first.

The one who made the plans.

The one who drove three hours while you wouldn’t even cross the street for me.

People were constantly dumping all of their problems on me—expecting me to solve them. But when it came time to get my own needs met, it was always a different story.

WHY?

For starters… if you have this problem, look at what happens when you put yourself first when you are the center of attention. When you are in charge… When the situation is all about you and not the other person.

Say, for example, you have a husband and wife—a classic codependent couple. The wife is always smothering the husband and tending to his every need like he’s a ch…