Hi Ranae,
It sounds like you're getting ready to face some difficult stuff inside, and that's a great thing. We can't really do that until we're ready. Your life certainly has been filled with caring for the needs of others from a young age. This is pretty common with many children who have grown up with family addictions, physical or emotional abuse, or neglect.
As you start to read Beattie's book, it's likely you'll start to see a lot of yourself in what's being written about. While there are lots of charactertistics to codependency (the book has an exhaustive list and not all will apply), chronic care-taking and feeling overly responsible for others is classic.
Originally Posted by ranae1221
I am starting to think though that I may be "addicted" to caring for others. I am great at taking care of others, and suck at caring for myself.
Sounds like you're starting to question things, and again, that is a great place to be and the perfect place to start. Often, we don't realize how much we use caring for others as a coping device to help us feel in control of our lives and to provide a much-needed sense of self-worth, while we're causing tremendous harm to ourselves in the name of helping others. And often we're causing harm to others by over-functioning for them.
That's not to say it's not alright to help or support those we care about, but codependents are often way out of balance and ignore their own needs -- and they can end up exhausted, depressed, resentful, overwhelmed, unhappy, bitter, unfulfilled or a combo of all.
Looks like you're in a great place to start searching for some answers on how to start taking better care of you. Remember, baby steps.
best
gf