To my empaths + those who don’t simply live life, they FEEL it…
Boundaries on SELF are where your power lies. This is how you help, serve and support others.
I learned this the hard way, over extending myself, handing over resources and money and time and love —praying and hoping I could just get them to see how much they mattered. I believed if I worked harder to encourage them and lift them up that maybe one day, they’d see their own worth.
That didn’t happen. What DID happen was I lost myself. I became more anxious, laying in bed at night worrying about them. The money I had lent them didn’t go to their rent, it went to drugs. The clothes I gave them were sold. The lies continued, the disappointments and resentments grew.
What started off as a desire to help, turned into a spiraling black hole for me. Try, fail, shame, confusion, try again but this time harder… I was obsessing and stuck.
The only way out was to set boundaries on myself. I found through this practice I could still “help” by remaining at a safe distance. I cared for me so that I could say “no” to them because I learned that the greatest, purest love is found within honest limits.