People who shy away from conflict or having to differ with others prefer to just accept other people’s opinions even when they do not agree with them.When you constantly suppress your needs in order to accommodate and please other people, sooner or later the frustration of not having your needs met will start to show.This frustration will manifest itself in the form of emotional outbursts over petty issues, moodiness, and feelings of resentment toward your partner.The first thing you need to understand is that there is a world of difference between compromising and ignoring your needs.In a compromise situation, you and your partner acknowledge each other’s needs and agree to both compromise and meet halfway.Compromise is a healthy part of any relationship.However, when you ignore your needs it means you have not made the other party aware of your needs and you simply choose to focus on their needs.Being assertive is part of open communication in a relationship.It lets your partner know what you expect from them and also what they can expect from you.This kind of communication is crucial in building better relationships.You cannot blame your partner for not meeting your needs when you have not even communicated to them what those needs are.Being assertive is not just better for your relationships, but it also makes you more confident.This is what fosters codependency habits such as enabling, caretaking and many more.If you are to escape the trap of codependency, the first place you need to look is inward.This will free you from the need to seek validation and approval from others.Consider how you treat your friends.You compliment them, buy them gifts on their birthday, support them when they need you and help them celebrate their victories.You defend them from other people and feel protective over them.This is completely natural and healthy for a good relationship.Make time for your passions and the things that make you truly happy.Do not feel guilty about wanting some time to yourself to do something you love.Free yourself from people who are always dragging you down and stealing your joy.Be selective about who you allow into your inner circle and life.Be ruthless when it comes to safeguarding your inner peace.Don’t be your biggest critic.Focus on the things you love about yourself and accept your flaws as just a normal part of human nature.No one is perfect and constantly focusing on your weaknesses will only undermine your confidence.Stay healthy and active.You only get one body in this life so take care of it.Keep your values close at heart and make decisions that are in line with your core values.Your values will help you to make better choices and to avoid following trends and other people’s opinions just to please others.Perhaps one of the more challenging aspects of codependent tendencies is the tendency to soak up another people’s distress.When you do not have sufficient boundaries to safeguard your emotions.You end up making other people’s problems your own.This effectively leads you to a codependent situation where you are unable to separate yourself from the other person.Such toxic relationships bring out the worst in you because the other person knows exactly what buttons to push to get you to toe the line.You will find yourself often doing things you would otherwise never consider doing just to keep the other person happy.Toxic relationships poison you from the inside out.In extreme cases, they may even drive you to coping mechanisms such as addictions to help you process your unresolved issues.Toxic people will come in many different shapes and forms and you need to be able to identify them by their characteristics.Here are some of the warnings signs that you need to be on the lookout for if you are to identify toxic people and weed them out.They often use emotional abuse to make you feel worthless.Perhaps the most toxic relationship for a codependent is one with a narcissist.Narcissists have no consideration or interest in other people’s feelings or needs.When it comes to empathy and compassion, the narcissist is the polar opposite of the codependent.Here are the classic signs that point to a narcissistic personality.When you think of walls, you immediately think of protection and safeguarding something.That is exactly what walls do in your emotional life as well.They keep the good stuff in and safeguard you from the negative.That is why you need to build walls around the things you need to keep protected.When you are in a codependent state, these pieces of you get lost in the relationship as you put all your energy into meeting the needs of the other person.To avoid falling into this trap, walls help you to create boundaries that set limits for yourself and the people in your life.These walls say to you and the people in your life that these are things that I will not compromise on.Retaining your values, passions, and interests is important in the journey of recovery from codependency.Identify what you want to protect and where essentially your limits are.You can base these decisions on your values and the things that are important to you.Communicate your boundaries clearly and let the other person know what you expect from them and what they can expect from you.That way both parties are fully aware of what they are getting into and are fully prepared for it.When you appreciate what your needs are, you can set reasonable boundaries that will help you meet your needs.Set boundaries that will help you cope with these weaknesses and make it easy for you to escape the traps that made you codependent in the first place.Understanding all the aspects about your insecurity is an important part of moving forward.