5 Fears That Lead To Weak Emotional Boundaries

Are these common fears holding you back?

What, exactly, are emotional boundaries? We all know what boundaries are in a traditional sense: They serve as limits. Town lines, jurisdictions, lines on a sports field — all boundaries that separate what’s allowed here, and what’s allowed over there.

Allowed — the key word in understanding real boundaries.

When setting emotional boundaries, we are communicating what we are, and aren’t, willing to tolerate from other people.

As my clients frequently experience, these boundaries are often more difficult to set in our personal lives than in any other area — but why?

Here are 5 (very common) fears that may be holding you back from maintaining the boundaries you set for yourself:

1: You’re afraid of appearing selfish.

When was the last time that you did something for you?

I understand — you need to make everyone else happy. Your kids, your spouse, your shareholders, your employees…and in an effort to do so, you find yourself saying “yes” more often than you’d like.

“Yes” to helping all the time, “yes” to those extra hours, “yes” to everyone else.