"Boundaries are the separations that humans need—mentally, emotionally, and physically—to feel safe, valued, and respected," explains Carla Marie Manly.
Boundaries are an important act of self-care and self-love to be paid heed to in our daily lives. In this article, we will understand the importance of drawing personal boundaries in our lives. The term ‘boundary’ is defined as a real or imagined line that marks the edge or limit of something. In the case of personal boundaries, we can imagine a line between what we are comfortable with and what we are not comfortable with in regards to our tolerance threshold, personal space, emotions, and relationships.
An important aspect of human life is interpersonal relationships. Humans are subject to behavioural errors and are unconscious of others comfort and space. Also, different cultures have different innate values governing how people interact with each other, which may be uncomfortable for somebody from a different culture. For example, what may be regarded as intimacy in one culture could be seen as interference and a violation of personal boundaries whereas from their own cultural perspective, they are just trying to be close and warm. So the context of understanding our cultural and ethical differences and consciously trying to accommodate the changes to strive for a middle ground for the comfort of both parties involved would be the ideal situation.
As we grow up from infants to mature adults, the lesson of boundaries goes amiss and we as adults struggle to survive in this world with sloppy boundaries. I am pretty sure all of my friends have gone through this experience of “Oh my God! How could she ask such a private question? “They took advantage of my kindness.” So unfortunately, we were not introduced to the concept of boundaries which is essential to knowing how to survive in the adult world. Thus, as we become more conscious of the world around us, we need to imbibe the concept of healthy boundaries and skillfully apply it in our professional and personal lives.
It is important for us to work to understand and uphold personal boundaries. Each person is made uniquely and has different thresholds of comfort. Just because someone else is comfortable with something or believes a certain thing doesn’t mean that we have to as well. The converse is also true: just because we are comfortable with something or have a particular belief doesn’t mean that others should feel the same way for us to maintain our overall well-being, mental health, and positive relationships. We cannot allow others to tell us what our boundaries should be; boundaries are something that we must evaluate for ourselves.
In the next article, we will learn more about boundaries.
“Your boundaries are significant.
You are worthy of respect.
You are worthy of care and compassion”
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| Being aware of boundaries. |
Read the two previous articles on this blog: