{"id":57146,"date":"2022-06-08T08:09:18","date_gmt":"2022-06-08T13:09:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.stress.org\/?p=57146"},"modified":"2024-04-06T06:27:49","modified_gmt":"2024-04-06T06:27:49","slug":"is-it-possible-to-care-too-much-understanding-how-to-care-without-it-becoming-a-source-of-your-stress","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.stress.org\/news\/is-it-possible-to-care-too-much-understanding-how-to-care-without-it-becoming-a-source-of-your-stress\/","title":{"rendered":"Is it Possible to Care Too Much? Understanding How to Care Without It Becoming a Source of Your Stress"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Our need to feel\u00a0loved and cared for and to give love and care to others seems to be an innate human quality\u00a0programmed into our DNA. Feeling loved and cared for gives us a feeling of security and self-worth. Caring for someone else gives us a sense of wholeness \u2014 it\u2019s an extension of our love. As good as it feels to care for someone or something, for many people it can also become a source of stress and emotional chaos that leaves them feeling mentally and emotionally drained. Which arises the question, is it possible to care too much? In most dictionaries the first definition of care is a burdened s<\/p>\n

tate of mind; worry; concern. It takes several lines before some dictionaries get around to defining care as \u201cto feel love for, to look after, provide for, attend to.\u201d Many people feel that if they\u2019re not worrying or obsessing over things it must mean that they\u2019re not caring enough. This need to worry or obsess is an \u201cemotional habit\u201d that operates under the seemingly healthy guise of attention, sentiment and sympathy toward people or situations, but often can end up causing disharmony, depression and a spiral of destructive stress. Psychologist Deborah Rozman, co-author of Transforming Anxiety: The HeartMath Solution for Overcoming Fear and Worry and Creating Serenity, says, \u201cEmotional habits keep people locked into a loop of anxiety and even depression. One of the habits most of us can relate to is called \u2018overcare.\u2019 Overcare is a common emotional habit that causes us anxiety, worry and stress.\u201d The term \u201covercare\u201d was coined by Doc Childre, founder of the HeartMath\u00ae system and co-author of numerous books, including Transforming Stress, Transforming Anxiety, Transforming Anger, and Transforming Depression. Doc describes overcare as that which happens when the mind and emotions cross the line of balanced care and get too attached to and bogged down with whomever or whatever you\u2019re caring about. Once you become too entangled in another\u2019s web and realize your energy is drained from overcare and overattachment, it\u2019s easy to be seduced into blaming and resenting the people or issues you care about. Examples of overcare:<\/p>\n