You may feel you are a caring and loving person. You give more of yourself than others give to you. While this may have worked well for you in the past, if you go too far with it, people may take advantage of you. Use this short guide to determine if you care too much.
You Always Take Phone Calls
If you are one who believes you must always answer the phone, this could be the first sign that you are caring too much. Sometimes you need a break from people, especially those who have excessive needs. It’s not that you don’t want to help or listen to what people say. It’s just that they will never stop calling if you continue to always be available for them. Make yourself less available. They will look for other ways to satisfy their overly needy emotions.
You Give Priority to Other Peoples’ Tasks
When a colleague at work approaches you to ask you to help them, do you ever suggest to them that you are busy? Or, do you stop your tasks to help them? If you stop your tasks regularly, you need to reevaluate why you are doing this. While you want to be a team player, you need to get your work done. You also need to let others know your work is important just as theirs is. Some people will also take advantage of having you do their work for them. You must reel in this situation. Your work will suffer otherwise.
You Are a Needy-People Magnet
If you find that overly needy people are approaching you frequently, this is a sign you care too much. You do want to help people whenever you can. But, when you set the environment where these people come to you for answers or to cry on your shoulders, they won’t look for ways to rectify their situations. They will keep coming to you for emotional support. This kind of support can hurt your emotional well-being.
When you recognize the signs of caring too much, you can take appropriate steps to reduce this behavior. You still want to help people whenever possible. But, you need to balance your own needs with theirs. Caring about others neediness too much will make your life unbearable. You will dread going to work, or if it is in your home, you may start using excuses to avoid going home. You shouldn’t allow that to happen, as your home is supposed to be your sanctuary.
If you found yourself in this article, you care too much in a negative way. The common denominator is expecting the people you help to repay you. If you take care of yourself and let the law of reaping what you sow repay you for your service to others, you can not care too much.
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