Thank you everyone who responded to my post.
My children are out of school and I've been running around with them for the past week. This morning I finally had a moment to sit down and truly read everything that was posted.
Such great ESH!
I think part of my struggle (I have so many struggles! :-) is that I'm changing, so the people that I want to associate with is changing too. I am noticing unhealthy behaviors more, but I need to work on accepting people for where they are in their own life journey.
It's sort of like when you go on a diet or quit smoking. All of a sudden you think EVERYONE needs to be on a diet or stop smoking. On an average day, I can identify at least 5+ people who need to be in a 12-step program :-)
I need to work on being non-judgmental. I need to learn to "Live and let live."
I love the idea of saying a genuine prayer for people. That actually helped me a lot with my codependency issues with my family of origin. Instead of running and trying to save, I now say a prayer for them. It helps me feel like I'm doing something. It feels healing for both me and them.
I definitely give too much trust to people. Since I spent most of my life as a people pleaser, it never learned to hold back and wait. I would plow into every relationship full force, determined to make everyone like me. Didn't stop to think whether these were people that I had something in common with. It didn't matter anyway, I was always good and being whatever I thought others wanted me to be.
It's sort of nice to realize that I can actual choose who to spend my time with. It's nice to realize that I can be me and let others accept me for who I am.
Okay, I'm starting to ramble.
Thanks again,
db