When I began to get better and my recovery from codependence was showing good results, I became fairly self-impressed. My thinking included “look at me and how well I am doing”, “you should be proud of me for all that I have accomplished”, “look how far I’ve come”, “you should love me more now that I am better” and so on. It took time, but I came to see framing my thoughts in such a manner was actually dysfunctional. All I had accomplished was some level of becoming “normal”. Millions of people are “normal” every day and don’t get merit badges for it. I shouldn’t either. Being pleased with myself for accomplishments in recovery is healthy. Expecting others to fawn over me because of them is not!
Don’t show off every day, or you’ll stop surprising people.
There must always be some novelty left over.
The person who displays a little more of it each day
keeps up expectations, and no one ever discovers
the limits of his talent.
Baltasar Gracian
Male Codependence 
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