{"id":624,"date":"2025-06-01T10:20:36","date_gmt":"2025-06-01T02:20:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gen-e-sis.com\/blog\/2021\/02\/06\/codependency-et-al-the-upside\/"},"modified":"2026-03-19T17:11:56","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T09:11:56","slug":"codependency-et-al-the-upside","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/handelbarweb.com\/blog\/codependency-et-al-the-upside\/","title":{"rendered":"Codependency et al &#8211; The Upside"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"1200\" data-attachment-id=\"1570\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/handelbarweb.com\/blog\/codependency-et-al-the-upside\/codependency-2\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/handelbarweb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/codependency-2.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"800,1200\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"codependency-2\" data-image-description=\"&lt;p&gt;This image evokes a surreal emotional funhouse: a kaleidoscope of theatrical blame, radiant martyrdom, and glitter-streaked chaos. A central figure belts out a shower song under a neon raincloud, while ear clips sparkle like philosophical accessories. In one corner, two figures share an existential cuddle beneath a banner that reads \u201cJustice \u2260 Joy.\u201d The palette is a riot of pastel pinks, electric blues, and gold lam\u00e9\u2014equal parts cabaret and catharsis. Dysfunction is reimagined as performance art, with guilt traded for glitter and self-pity transformed into self-parody. It\u2019s a manifesto for the emotionally overachieving, the philosophically tender, and anyone who\u2019s ever cried in iambic pentameter.&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;Where guilt gets glittered and martyrdom glows\u2014welcome to the poetic playground of dysfunction, joy, and self-parody.&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/handelbarweb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/codependency-2-200x300.jpg\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/handelbarweb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/codependency-2-683x1024.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/handelbarweb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/codependency-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1570\" srcset=\"https:\/\/handelbarweb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/codependency-2.jpg 800w, https:\/\/handelbarweb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/codependency-2-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/handelbarweb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/codependency-2-683x1024.jpg 683w, https:\/\/handelbarweb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/codependency-2-768x1152.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<span class=\"voice-tag\">Codependency Satire &#038; Relational Philosophy<\/span>\n<div class=\"post-intro\">\n  <p>\n    Welcome to the emotional funhouse where blame becomes performance art and martyrdom gets a glow-up. This piece reimagines dysfunction as a poetic playground \u2014 trading justice for joy, guilt for glitter, and self-pity for self-parody. Featuring shower songs, ear clips, and the occasional existential cuddle, it\u2019s a manifesto for anyone who\u2019s ever loved too hard and labeled it philosophy.\n  <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>How popular is the upside of blaming your partner and\/or wanting to cure him\/her? Being the hero.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI love my man and I have scars to prove it\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You get to play the martyr (warm fuzzy) when you should just be moving on (common sense). You love so much yet it&#8217;s the wrong type of love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There is always an upside, a payoff, to our misery. Its why we linger on it and are so reluctant to get over it. Having someone to blame is a great comfort as it allows us to down tools and erect monuments to the damage done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Having been sinned against, justice dictates you stay wounded. No further growth is allowed. It\u2019s a great deal. You get to cave in mentally. Milk the cause of the damage as much as you can. Write poems about it. Glorify it. Polish that turd! Misery is so much easier than recovery. And so the cycle perpetuates, like drug addiction. It is a <em>fair<\/em> thing that we remain damaged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Get this. There is no point to recovery. If you choose to recover you will feel real pain again. You will get to kick yourself, but hey, that is what feelings are for, <em>pain<\/em> and <em>joy<\/em>. Choose pain over numbness, grow up. Find yourself, but don\u2019t look for yourself in someone else\u2019s eyes. Don\u2019t go getting your self-esteem off others. That would just be <em>others-esteem<\/em> now, wouldn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The main reason it is easier to blame the other is that we know them better than we know ourselves. Because our definition of ourselves is so shallow and off-the-mark, having been based too much on the way others see us. You can hide from yourselves in the arms of another for only so long. Eventually, even they will notice that there is no one home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Love yourself first (do the hard yards there), to become somebody capable of loving another, from your heart rather than just from theirs! It is the difference between doing something remarkable and doing something to appear remarkable. Yes, there is a difference, since it is not what you do, but why you do it that matter most. Motive over action every time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So live remarkably. Life is a gift. We should be damn grateful, encouraging our wounds to heal, tolerating the imperfections in both ourselves and others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Don\u2019t hang around waiting for that compensation cheque. Screw justice and choose life again. Screw equality! Strive for and celebrate harmony. Forgive everyone, especially yourself. Laugh, sing in the shower; just get over it. And every now and then, hope that someone comes by and gives you a clip around the ear, because we are self-absorbed idiots in disguise, and a clip around the ear can often fix that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-amazon wp-block-embed-amazon\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The Itty-Bitty Book of Codependency\" type=\"text\/html\" width=\"678\" height=\"550\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen style=\"max-width:100%\" src=\"https:\/\/read.amazon.com\/kp\/card?preview=inline&#038;linkCode=ll1&#038;ref_=k4w_oembed_HwBQLoy0Lvhrqs&#038;asin=B0CLL1WM81&#038;tag=genesiscom-20\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Welcome to the emotional funhouse where blame becomes performance art and martyrdom gets a glow-up. This piece reimagines dysfunction as a poetic playground \u2014 trading justice for joy, guilt for glitter, and self-pity for self-parody.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":969,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[828,873,892,550,1103],"class_list":["post-624","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-philosophy-and-paradox","tag-lyrical-philosophy","tag-personal-philosophy","tag-poetic-parody","tag-poetic-refactoring","tag-self-help-satire"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/handelbarweb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/codependency-512.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/handelbarweb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/handelbarweb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/handelbarweb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/handelbarweb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/handelbarweb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=624"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/handelbarweb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2481,"href":"https:\/\/handelbarweb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624\/revisions\/2481"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/handelbarweb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/969"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/handelbarweb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/handelbarweb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/handelbarweb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}