THe caretaking pattern
If you have a caretaking pattern, you are caring towards others, but often at the expense of your own needs and desires.
This means that you can be driven by the need to help others to the point where you lose yourself and neglect your needs and end up feeling emotionally burned out and exhausted.
At some level, though, your caring for others comes with expectations. You may have a desire to be appreciated or have the same energy poured back to you and you may feel hurt and disappointed when people don’t offer the same energy.
It’s likely that you struggle to set boundaries and often feel taken advantage of and not reciprocated.
You may also be drawn to partners that you try to fix, but their emotional unavailability and unwillingness to change means that you hold onto hope things will change, carry more of the emotional labour, which creates chronic anxiety and stress.