the boiled frog

It occurred to me recently that people who have not been one-half of a codependent relationship may not understand what it feels like to unconsciously hand your power over to the person you fell in love with. And how quickly codependency can turn into manipulation, isolation, and abuse. And how THAT can have lasting effects, like a lack of confidence, intuition, and self-trust. I was watching Imperfect Women with my partner. Spoiler coming up. It was the recent episode where we find out just how manipulative Howard is with his wife Mary. As the scenes stacked up, my partner began to react to his psychological tactics. Whoa. He's a dick. Does she not realize he's a dick? Of course she knows, I thought... But that's her husband, and they have little kids. And she's in it. She's locked in it. She's a stay at home mom who hasn't worked in like two decades. What's she gonna do... leave? Yeah sure. Plus, to her, this is and has been normal behavior for him. He gets the last say. She kowtows…