Spiced Life Conversation
Art Wellness Studio and Botanica
Codependency & Emotional Eating Recovery for Women
Who Are Ready to Stop Abandoning Themselves
Emotional Eating Recovery. Codependency. Women Healing Self-Abandonment
Trauma-Informed Recovery Coaching for Women in Georgia and Worldwide
Hello, My Name is Dr. Nikki LeToya White
Below, I'll give you the tools and resources to...
End Burnout Today
It starts with understanding what burnout truly is.
I've learned the hard way that burnout is only a symptom of a much deeper problem.
If you don’t get to the underlying cause of why you feel overwhelmed, exhausted, insecure, disappointed and responsible for other people’s feelings, thoughts, actions, choices, wants, needs, and well-being, then you’ll never find a lasting solution.
I didn’t always know I was abandoning myself.
As a child, I felt the weight of absence—my mother left me to live with my great-grandmother, my father was not present, and my family struggled to show emotion even while meeting my physical needs. I learned early that love wasn’t about attention, understanding, or presence—it was about surviving.
As an adult living in Atlanta, Georgia, I tried to do it all: being a trucker's wife, a mother of 4, an only child, a counselor, and a support for everyone around me. I thought putting others first was love. I thought it was what kept connection alive.
But slowly, quietly, I disappeared inside my own life.
I waited to watch movies until my husband came home from the road.
I waited to take trips, to invest in myself, to even spend time alone.
I ignored my own dreams to focus on his trucking business, his schedule, his needs.
And I thought I was happy… until I wasn’t. I realized I was not just a trucker wife, I was a LonerWife, married but living apart as a single mom. Later I learned I was struggling with Codependent Personality. For those of you wondering what a codependent personality is. A codependent person plans their entire life around pleasing another person. Where does codependency come from? Codependency originates from one’s childhood and the circumstances one faced like my history of abandonment and childhood emotional neglect trauma. Since codependents tend to put others on a high pedestal and ignore themselves, they have low self-esteem and a complex personality where their own needs come last. Such relationships can be extremely toxic, lucky for me I saw the patterns of me over giving, over functioning, and began to make shifts.
In my life, years of small self-abandonments added up. Panic attacks, anxiety, and feelings of emptiness began to surface. I realized that my nervous system was telling me something I’d ignored for decades: I didn’t know how to live for me. Most importantly, I did not give myself permission to live my own life due to lack of self trust and low self worth. Lack of trust is the root issue of codependent people like me we frequently don’t trust ourselves and don’t trust our feelings or decisions. Similarly, codependents frequently don’t trust others. Emotional Dependency is the second issue: Codependents may look for external happiness and latch onto whoever or whatever they think can provide satisfaction: this often stems from our fear of abandonment or rejection.
Due to my history of abandonment and childhood emotional neglect trauma I had been putting myself last for so long that I didn’t know what it felt like to trust myself, to make my own decisions, to feel safe expanding my life as an individual apart from marriage, so I unconsciously create a codependent one-sided marriage., due to self-abandonment.
If this story feels familiar, you’re not alone. Many women quietly disappear inside their own lives. Their world looks fine from the outside:
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Marriage
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Kids
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Responsibilities
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Stability
But inside, they feel like they’re slowly fading from their own story.
And here’s the truth: you don’t have to destroy your relationships to reclaim yourself. You just have to stop abandoning yourself and give yourself permission to heal codependency and start living your own individual life.
Recovery begins with small acts of self-love and self-loyalty:
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Saying yes to something just for you
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Setting one boundary
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Investing time in your interests
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Speaking honestly about what you need
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Finally, saying yes to transition into the low-sugar lifestyle
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Stop trying control of people and events through helplessness, guilt, coercion, threats, advice-giving, manipulation, or domination to avoid being abandon.
These small steps rebuild self-trust, the foundation of confidence, clarity, and freedom.
Take the First Step Toward Yourself
Download the Gutty Girl Life Audit and start noticing the small ways you’ve been putting yourself last.
Start Your Gutty Girl Life Audit
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Life in Recovery Blog
Books by Dr. Nikki LeToya White
The Journey To Recovery
Helpful Links For Additional Support
I wanted to use my platform to highlight resources and a message of hope. We believe that connection is the key to healing. Here are some resources that we have found helpful. Some are community meetings that you can attend in person, and others may offer online information or forums that may be useful. Remember, you are not alone!
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, excessive alcohol use leads to more than 95,000 deaths each year in the U.S., and there have been more than 800,000 drug overdose deaths in the U.S. since 1999. We know that roughly 50% of people with a mental health condition also have a problem with substance abuse. Approximately 30 Million Americans struggle with eating disorders. And more than 1 in 3 people who die from suicide are under the influence of alcohol at the time of death. Substance use disorders affect many people. If you or someone you know is struggling, you are not alone; there is help and there is hope.
Community-based support groups for those who desire recovery from an eating disorder.
Support for individuals and families affected by eating disorders.
Community-based support groups for families and loved ones affected by alcohol and substance use.
We provide direct peer support to families, train professionals, and provide a bridge to connect them.
Community-based support groups for those who desire recovery from alcohol and substance use.
Support for families and caregivers of those affected by an eating disorder.
National Alliance on Mental Illness
The Life in Recovery Blog is a resource for people who are interested in mental health and achieving sobriety goals. We feature the latest research, stories of recovery, ways to end stigma, and strategies for living well in recovery. Most importantly: We feature your voices. Click here to share your story.
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