Find Your Boundaries; Find Yourself
What are boundaries and do they really matter? 🌱🌷 The Bloom Sessions
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Dear friends
We often hear the word boundaries, but what does it actually mean for us? How do boundaries affect our relationships, life, and our sense of self?
Do boundaries really matter?
Boundaries help protect our time, energy, and mental space, so we can focus on what matters most - without feeling overwhelmed or taken advantage of.
In this longer post I share:
What life with poor boundaries means.
My story with boundaries.
What life with healthy boundaries is.
Simple examples of boundary issues that may resonate.
Dig in to the possible origins of poor boundaries.
Six exercises to try in your life to strengthen your boundaries.
Twelve therapeutic journaling questions to dig even deeper.
This is a longer post, so you may prefer to read here. This far reaching topic will keep you going until the Bloom Sessions continue after Easter!
What are Boundaries?
Setting and maintaining healthy boundaries is crucial for emotional well-being, self-respect, and healthy relationships. Boundaries are the invisible lines that define where we end and others begin. They help us maintain a sense of self while navigating relationships and the outside world.
Life With Poor Boundaries
Poor boundaries can manifest in many ways, including:
Difficulty saying “no” to requests, even when they feel overwhelming or unreasonable.
Feeling overly responsible for others’ emotions or problems.
Avoiding conflict at all costs, even when it means suppressing one’s own needs.
Over-sharing personal information with people who haven’t earned trust (and the opposite: shutting people out too much).
Allowing others to invade personal space or time without objection.
Engaging in people-pleasing behaviours to gain approval or avoid rejection.
Struggling to ask for help or support, fearing it might burden others.
Feeling guilty or anxious when trying to assert personal limits or prioritise oneself.
Controlling behaviour.
Do any of these resonate?
These patterns can leave us feeling drained, overwhelmed, confused, resentful, and disconnected from our own needs. We may feel entangled in the lives of others, or lost in our relationships.
But what does it mean to have healthy boundaries? And why do many of us struggle to establish them?
Boundaries help protect our time, energy, and mental space, so we can focus on what matters most without feeling overwhelmed or taken advantage of.
If this is a topic you’d like to explore read on. Paid members use these posts to go deeper to improve self awareness, mental health and well-being so they can flourish. If not, see you next time! With love, Kate