Are you an enabler? 🤔 | 10 Types of People Prone to Enabling #SoulResetSunday

There's often a fine line between empowering and enabling.

empower (v.) - make (someone) stronger and more confident, especially in controlling their life and claiming their rights. give (someone) the authority or power to do something.

enable (v.) - to intentionally or unintentionally, support or facilitate the continuation of another person's harmful or destructive behavior, often out of a desire to protect or avoid conflict.

In the moment, enabling can often seem helpful, but in the long run, it is harmful and unfruitful for both the enabler and the one being enabled.

Read below to see if you are one of the 10 types of people who are most prone to enabling others. Then, download today's Soul-Reset Sunday Mini Guide to walk through the affirmation, activation and journal prompts that will help you to release the burdens of others and break the cycle to become an empowerer instead of an enabler.

Have a healthy & wholesome week!

P.S. Get a sneak peek at tomorrow's Mind Renewal Monday video where I dive deeper on how to break this unhealthy cycle!

10 Types of People Most Prone to Enabling Others | Explained

1. Parents and Caregivers

• Motivation: Parents and caregivers often feel a deep sense of responsibility to protect and care for their children or loved ones. In this role, they may find themselves enabling unhealthy behaviors, especially when they want to shield their child from hardship or prevent conflict.

• Examples of Enabling: A parent might cover up a child's poor grades, make excuses for a teenager's rule-breaking behavior, or continually bail them out of financial trouble, believing this will help them in the long run.

2. People with Low Self-Esteem or Codependency Tendencies

• Motivation: Individuals with low self-esteem or those who are prone to codependency often derive their sense of value from being needed by others. This can make them more likely to enable others because they prioritize the needs and feelings of others over their own.

• Examples of Enabling: A codependent partner might enable an abusive relationship by making excuses for their partner’s behavior, tolerating emotional or physical abuse, or rescuing them from the consequences of their actions (e.g., covering for a partner’s addiction or bad behavior).

3. People with a Strong Need for Approval or a Fear of Conflict

• Motivation: Some people fear confrontation or disapproval, which can make them more inclined to enable others to avoid tension or uncomfortable emotions.

• Examples of Enabling: Someone might agree with a colleague's unethical decisions to avoid conflict at work or may allow a friend to engage in risky behavior to avoid a confrontation, even if they know it’s harmful.

4. Partners in Addictive or Dysfunctional Relationships

• Motivation: In relationships where addiction or mental health issues are involved, the non-addicted or non-ill partner may become an enabler out of love, guilt, or fear of abandonment. They may believe that by supporting the other person, they can help them recover or keep them from hitting rock bottom.

• Examples of Enabling: In addiction, a partner might provide money to an addicted loved one, cover up for their behavior, or refuse to acknowledge the severity of the addiction, thinking they are protecting the individual.

5. People Who Have Been Victimized or Experienced Trauma

• Motivation: Individuals who have experienced trauma or have been in toxic relationships may enable others because they feel empathy or a sense of shared suffering. They might also fear that confronting the person would make them feel responsible for past trauma or hurt them further.

• Examples of Enabling: A person who was emotionally or physically abused may enable a friend or partner's abusive behavior because they unconsciously accept it as normal or because they fear a repeat of their own past experiences.

6. People in Hierarchical or Authority Positions

• Motivation: Teachers, bosses, or mentors may sometimes enable negative behaviors from subordinates or mentees out of a desire to protect them, maintain peace, or avoid causing them distress. They might enable bad habits in a subordinate because they feel responsible for their success or well-being.

• Examples of Enabling: A manager who consistently overlooks a team member’s poor performance or unethical behavior to avoid confrontation, or a teacher who ignores a student’s behavioral problems out of sympathy or a desire to maintain harmony.

7. People Who Have a Strong Desire to Be Needed or Important

• Motivation: Some individuals may enable others because they derive a sense of purpose or significance from being indispensable to others. They may get validation from "saving" others or always being the one others turn to.

• Examples of Enabling: A friend who constantly takes on the problems of others, offering unsolicited help even when it’s not needed, or a person who helps others avoid facing the consequences of their actions to maintain a feeling of importance.

8. People with a “Rescue” or “Fixer” Mentality

• Motivation: Some people have a natural inclination to try to fix or "rescue" others, even when it’s not in their best interest. This can be rooted in a sense of superiority, control, or a desire to feel needed.

• Examples of Enabling: An individual who feels compelled to always offer solutions to others’ problems, even when their help prevents the other person from learning valuable lessons or taking responsibility for their actions.

9. People Who Have a Strong Sense of Empathy or Compassion

• Motivation: While empathy is a valuable trait, it can sometimes lead to enabling if the person is too focused on the other person’s suffering and wants to alleviate it at all costs, even if it means enabling harmful behavior.

• Examples of Enabling: A compassionate friend may give in to a loved one’s demands for money or accommodation, or may continue to support someone through destructive behavior out of a desire to spare them discomfort.

10. People in Cultures or Communities with Strong Social Expectations

• Motivation: In certain cultures or communities, there may be a strong emphasis on maintaining family honor, social harmony, or collective responsibility, which can encourage enabling behaviors to avoid conflict or embarrassment.

• Examples of Enabling: In collectivist cultures, family members may enable the behavior of an addicted or abusive relative because they feel obligated to "protect" family reputation or avoid shame.

Soul-Reset Sunday _ Dec. 1st.pdf

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