The Balancing ACT: Creating Healthy Dependency and Connection Without Losing Yourself

From the bestselling author of Set Boundaries, Find Peace, a guide to understanding healthy dependency--to bring our relationships back into balance

I need some space.

Why are you so distant?

You want more than I can give.

Every relationship in our lives - from love and close friendship to extended family and our wider social circle - is a balancing act. If we give too much, we begin to lose ourselves. If we protect ourselves too much, we lose the closeness we all need. Getting the balance right is how we find more connection, authenticity, and joy.

The Balancing Act is a roadmap for finding that balance. With her signature blend of clarity and compassion, therapist Nedra Glover Tawwab sheds light on healthy dependency, and how to achieve it. Along the way, she unpacks buzzwords and trending topics including codependency, attachment styles, inner family systems, and more - offering practical advice for recognizing our needs, navigating conflict, and finding more harmony with the important people in our lives.

Whether you’re yearning for more trust with a spouse or partner, more clarity with a best friend or sibling, or more agency in how you show up in the world, these insights will help you reevaluate, reset, and relate better.

Nedra Glover Tawwab is the author of the New York Times bestsellers Set Boundaries, Find Peace and Drama Free. A licensed therapist and sought-after relationship expert, she has practiced relationship therapy for more than fifteen years. Tawwab has appeared as an expert on The Red Table Talk, The Breakfast Club, Good Morning America, and CBS This Morning, to name a few. Her work has been highlighted in The New York Times, The Guardian, and Vice, and she has appeared on numerous podcasts, including Good Life Project, Sofia with an F, and Therapy for Black Girls. Tawwab runs a popular Instagram account where she shares practices, tools, and reflections for mental health and hosts weekly Q&As about boundaries and relationships. She lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, with her family.