Do you have a high maintenance life? Does your life require a great deal of emotional investment to maintain?

It may be a sign you make relationships (customer/client/patient/personal) about meeting your needs rather than theirs. If you assume a parental role you impose your will on others. Even if you justify your caring is in their best interests, ‘mother henning’ is unsustainable for you.

It sets it up, for them to become the problem, and for you to take their choices personally. Their rejection then produces doubt, anger, fatigue and eventually burnout. When you live through others you’re unable to be the anchor people secretly crave, impeding the important component of hope.

By mother henning about what you have little or no control over (their choices, pace of personal growth and healing, desire to follow through, the priority they place on health, etc.) your impact is blunted and your capacity reduced.

Focus on your own goals and be a role model for others. Live the life of your dreams.

“Be in control without being controlling”. Dr Jo