Article by Aletheia Luna

You feel pushed. Manipulated. Exploited. Dominated. Coerced. Pressured. Bullied. Controlled.

The person in front of you has gone too far and has overstepped your personal boundaries. But you don’t know what to do; you feel weak and helpless. A quiet desperation rises inside of you. You feel like a fly stuck in a web.

What can be done?

If you struggle with energy loss and issues such as over-commitment, lack of assertiveness, and feeling exhausted all the time by those around you, keep reading. It’s time to draw a clear line and reclaim your personal power.

What are Personal Boundaries?

Personal boundaries are the mental, emotional, and physical walls we create to protect ourselves from being used, manipulated, drained, or violated by others. These limits help us to clearly distinguish who we are and what we need from other people and their needs.

Creating and maintaining personal boundaries is essential to cultivating physical, emotional, and psychological well-being.

Why Are Personal Boundaries So Important?

Personal boundaries are an essential way of creating and upholding a healthy self-image. When a person has strong personal boundaries, it communicates to the world that they exude healthy self-respect and self-worth.

Most importantly, healthy boundaries help us to create a safe container within ourselves where self-compassion and mindfulness can blossom. Hence, creating boundaries makes us feel fundamentally good and preserves our personal integrity.

But without personal boundaries, we run the risk of confusing our needs and wants with others, which leads to codependency. Codependency is a term that describes a toxic one-sided relationship where we derive all of our happiness from others. The reality is that it’s impossible to enjoy a healthy relationship without strong and clear boundaries.

Without personal boundaries, there is also the risk of experiencing heightened stress and feelings of hopelessness. Overcommitting to everyone and everything tends to take a serious toll on your mental health, which can eventually lead to burnout – or worse: a nervous breakdown.

Finally, a lack of personal boundaries can result in feelings of being worthless, weak, or not good enough. In other words, our self-esteem will be severely impacted and we may struggle with issues such as chronic self-doubt, self-judgment, and self-loathing. Not being able to voice our truth and communicate our needs in a clear way can be deeply distressing and demoralizing.

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