Personal boundaries are the physical, emotional and mental limits we establish to protect ourselves from being manipulated, used or violated by others. They allow us to separate who we are, and what we think and feel, from the thoughts and feelings of others. Their presence helps us to express ourselves as unique individuals, while we acknowledge the same in other. To set boundaries, you will be preserving your integrity, taking responsibility for who you are, and taking control of your life. There are many ways that you could ensure that you develop your boundaries. Here are a few:
1. Try and realize that you have a right to your own personal boundaries. You must take responsibility for how you allow …show more content…
It is important to recognize that other people's needs and feelings are just as important as yours. Many of us often allow the needs of others to take precedence over our needs. Not only does that send the wrong message about yourself, but you also tend to disregard your needs. And this must be avoided if you want to develop healthy boundaries.
3. Learn to say no when you don't feel right about something. Many of us are people-pleasers. We put ourselves at a disadvantage by trying to please everyone and accommodate their needs. We don't want to be selfish, so we put our personal needs on the back burner and agree to do things that may not be beneficial to our well-being. This not only destroys our self-esteem over time, but it stifles any chance that we have to assert ourselves and our needs. In addition, our boundaries will be fractured.
4. We must try and identify actions and behaviours that we find unacceptable and consistently tell others what these are. This will help them know when they have crossed a boundary, acted inappropriately or disrespected you. We should not be afraid to tell others when we need emotional and physical space. We should allow ourselves to be who we really are without pressure from others to be someone that we're not. Also, we should keep a list of actions that we can take if our wishes aren't