Healthy boundaries with your time, energy, resources, relationships, commitments, food, products, life choices, health of all kinds, and anything in between. When they’re new, chaos can ensue. Feathers can be ruffled. But boundaries make more peace.
As we begin or continue to make changes for our wellbeing, it can often times involve pushback or friction from the people around you. Sometimes it’s because they fear losing you. Sometimes it can be because they feel judged for not making the same decisions. There are endless reasons people resist another persons healthy boundaries. The thing is, that’s truly their issue. Not yours.
You have a big responsibility in taking care of yourself. All of yourself. In order to be able to live well, love others and serve well and in a healthy way, boundaries must be formed and upheld. Otherwise unhealthy and unsustainable patterns like resentment, codependency, burn out, exhaustion, low view of self, and more creep in and can run the show. I see this amplified all around especially during the holiday season.
Healthy boundaries are a part of making and maintaining good and healthy relationships. If someone won’t respect your healthy boundary, that’s about them, not you. They’ve got some work to do too. Extend grace and love, for sure. And remind yourself that it’s not your job to manage or regulate someone else’s feelings. Boundaries are meant to provide protection and freedom. They enable us to have healthier, more meaningful and sustainable relationships with ourselves and others.
Change can be hard. On the one changing and others. Not changing is even harder.