How do you love....?

[AlliceinWL]

How do you love someone who needs to get past personal issues and learn to love himself/herself?

 

For people who feel like they are alone on the long road of life, is it better to give them space and allow them to learn to love themselves and find joy on their own or is it better to keep showing them love, support them and be there to answer the phone when they call??

[dancingcolors]

I feel more loved if you aswer the phone.

[odile]

It depends on the nature of those issues.

It also depends on the nature of the relationship.

Is this a romantic involvement, or a friendship?

Is the relationship healthy, or dysfunctional.

 

Sometimes the best love is a giving love, and sometimes the best love is tough love.

When trying to choose which way to be loving, consider your own needs first.

If you don't do so, then you run the risk of winding up in a place where you are not only unable to help the other person, but struggling to help yourself.

 

If the relationship is generally more fulfilling than not, and overall provides positive influence on your life,

then giving something of yourself during rough patches won't mean risking your overall well being.

Just be sure that you know where to draw the line.

 

However, in some situations, giving more is actually less loving.

If you give, and give, and give of yourself in situation that is negative, then you are not being loving towards yourself.

Whereas if you remove yourself from a that situation, then you are being loving towards yourself, and also, by breaking a bad pattern, you are giving the other person the opportunity to choose a healthier path, rather than to use you as a crutch.

 

Really, it all depends on the particulars.