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Great Relationships Need Good Boundaries
How loving partners can choose healthy limits
Relationships are an opportunity for you to grow. They’re an opportunity for you to decide what you will and won’t do. They’re an opportunity to learn from your mistakes.
My friend Dan thought Emily was “the one”. They were young and tried to make it work, even got engaged, but they never made it to the wedding. After three years of being “on again/off again” they called it quits. Dan spoke to me about what he thought went wrong. Much of it came down to boundaries.
Here are 5 things you can set boundaries around in your relationship and become a more loving partner:
Ignoring your needs
It’s easy to develop unhealthy ways of seeking approval in your relationship. To be approved of is one of our main human desires. But your need for approval can cause problems. It can turn into doing too many things for your partner to keep them happy. It can turn into meeting their needs but ignoring your own.
Dan is an introvert and often needs time on his own, but his partner Emily sulked when he left her side. She wanted to do couple things every minute they weren’t working. Dan was exhausted, he needed space, but he also wanted to keep her happy. He loved when he made her…