Below is a great graphic that has some prompts to think about when you are trying to establish some healthy boundaries. When we have grown up in homes where there was substance abuse, mental health struggles, financial issues, domestic violence, incarceration, physical, sexual, verbal or emotional abuse, we often develop a set of faulty beliefs about what we can say no to. We may become people pleasers, always molding ourselves around what we think others want of us. We may develop avoidant attachment styles where we simply just aren't vulnerable - we don't ask for help, we are self sufficient and self reliant. Whatever the case may be, learning to have healthy boundaries allows us to be in relationships with safety and security. If this information below seems too difficult to take on, you may consider contacting a therapist to work through what is making it difficult to have healthy boundaries - finding out why it's so hard to say NO and not be drowning in guilt for taking care of ourselves. Or, we find ourselves just overwhelmed in commitments or the opposite, we are very uninvolved in life to stay safe. Use the Contact Us page to connect with one of our therapists.
Comments