248 - The Hidden Cost of Overgiving in Relationships

About this episode

This episode explores the hidden cost of overgiving in relationships and how it can lead to burnout and emotional exhaustion.

Have you ever cared about someone so much that you slowly disappeared? Have you ever been the strong one, the helper, the fixer — only to wake up exhausted, resentful, or unsure where you went? In this week’s episode of Life Happens with Barb & Michelle , we explore the hidden cost of overgiving in relationships and how codependency, people-pleasing, and emotional overfunctioning quietly lead to burnout. Inspired by Codependent No More by Melody Beattie, this conversation shifts the focus from controlling others to caring for yourself. We talk about boundaries, emotional exhaustion, self-worth, detachment, and how to stop losing yourself in relationships. If you struggle with: Overgiving feeling responsible for everyone else’s emotions difficulty setting boundaries relationship burnout or constantly putting others first …this episode is for you. 💬 Barb shares how she began recognizing her codependent patterns during addiction and divorce — and how healing started when she stopped trying to manage everyone else’s experience. 💬 Michelle opens up about losing herself in past relationships and how she rebuilt trust with her own voice, needs, and intuition. ✨ In This Episode, We…

People in this episode

Hosts: Barb Schmidt, Michelle Maros

Topics covered

• overgiving
• codependency
• boundaries
• emotional exhaustion
• self-worth
• relationship burnout

Keywords

• overgiving
• codependency
• people-pleasing
• emotional resilience
• boundaries
• self-care
• relationship dynamics

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• 255 - The Comparison Episode We Were Scared to Record · April 28, 2026 · 54 min
• 254 - The Healing Advice That's Actually Keeping You Broken · April 21, 2026 · 1h 13m
• 253 - The Truth About Living with Your Mother (at 40) · April 14, 2026 · 52 min
• 252 - How Forgiving Too Fast Kept Me Stuck for 20 Years · April 7, 2026 · 55 min
• 251 — My Mom Hid a Family Secret for 20 Years… · March 31, 2026 · 58 min