We All Have and Need Boundaries
We all have personal boundaries. For example, personal space boundaries, which are different for everyone. You know where yours are by the instant feeling of wanting to back up when someone enters your “personal bubble”. This is a reaction to the violation of that stated or unstated personal boundary. There are also personal boundaries regarding our time, our energy, and levels of commitment that we allow ourselves to have. We set these boundaries based on what we like, dislike, feelings of safety, personal health and/or hygiene, and so on. Every relationship we have in life consists of boundaries. It doesn’t matter if it’s your friends, co-workers, spouse, or your family. If you engage with people, there are boundaries to adhere to and to abide by for one reason or another.
Boundaries are put in place to protect us, to keep us safe, and to help us understand what is and what is not appropriate behavior. We also need boundaries to help us better understand what we are willing to put up and when it’s time to walk away; that’s where the protection and safety aspects come into play. Each person can only take a certain amount of pressure before they demonstrate in one way or another that they can’t take it anymore. Just like a tea kettle on the stove top; there is only so much heat it can take before it begins to loudly whistle letting you know it has had enough pressured heat…
