09/09/2026
THE ABANDONMENT WOUND CAN HAVE YOU WORKING SO HARD TO KEEP SOMEONE THAT YOU DON’T NOTICE HOW LITTLE THEY’RE ACTUALLY GIVING YOU.
You become focused on their needs, their feelings, their circumstances. Why they’re busy. Why they’re struggling. Why they can’t show up right now. You understand, accommodate, give more, wait longer and tell yourself you’re just being compassionate.
Meanwhile, your own needs and desires keep moving further down the list.
This is what can happen with anxious attachment. When you feel someone pulling away or becoming inconsistent, instead of observing what they’re showing you, you do MORE. You initiate more, give more, become more understanding and accept the breadcrumbs because at least the connection is still there.
Without realising it, you’re setting the standard for what you’ll tolerate. When you continually compensate for someone’s lack of effort, they never have to rise to meet you. You end up carrying the connection while telling yourself you’re just loving deeply.
Then comes the second-guessing. “Maybe I’m expecting too much.” “They’ve got a lot going on.” “Maybe I need to give them more time.” “But I know who they really are. I can see so much potential in them.”
Seeing someone’s potential isn’t the problem. The problem is when you start relating to their potential instead of their reality.
You can see everything someone COULD become while still paying attention to who they are consistently showing you they ARE.
Do they initiate? Are they consistent? Do they make space for your needs? Do their actions match their words? Are they actually building something WITH you?
Because the abandonment wound can become so focused on keeping the connection that you stop trusting your own inner compass.
You noticed the inconsistency. You felt the lack of effort. You knew something wasn’t meeting your needs, and then you talked yourself out of what you knew.
Healing anxious attachment is also about learning to trust yourself again.
Your needs matter. Your standards matter. You don’t have to over-give to earn reciprocity, and you don’t have to continually accept less because you’re afraid that asking for more might mean losing them.
The question shifts from “How do I keep this connection?” to “Is this person actually meeting me in the kind of relationship I desire?”
Because when you stop choosing someone’s potential over their reality, you can finally start choosing from your own worth.
This is a huge part of Attraction Recoding: understanding the patterns underneath attraction, rebuilding your inner compass and learning how to love deeply without continually putting yourself last.
Comment RECODE or DM me RECODE if you’re ready to change the pattern. ❤️