I often like to say, ‘Boundaries are doors, not walls.’ 

Your home probably has some beautiful rooms, with exterior walls that border those rooms. Can you imagine how odd it would be if you were sitting in your bedroom, quietly reading your mystery novel, and someone suddenly crashed through your bedroom walls from outside? It would certainly be shocking, not to mention damaging to your home!

So many of us tolerate this very thing in our hearts with relationships when we allow others to crash through our boundaries. I want you to expect others to use the proverbial 'front door,' or whatever lines you lay down in your relationships. When a guest enters your front door and not your bedroom walls, it communicates respect and honor of your property lines. 

The reality is that your boundaries won't be as obvious as a front door. You have to directly communicate what your boundaries are because people cannot read your mind.

Sometimes the world just works out beautifully, and people don’t cross your boundaries, maybe because they have similar boundaries in place or their intuition of you is magically on point. So you never have to address it head on. 

But most times you will have to speak up and make it very clear for people. This is really a blessing in disguise anyways, because you get to see if they respect your boundaries. A lot of times, we resist communicating our boundaries because we are afraid it will create disconnection. But, boundaries are meant to protect connection, because boundaries are the doorways to safety and love in relationship. Without directly communicating your boundaries, you will be the one to experience the real damage and pay a price to repair the damage of that proverbial ‘bedroom wall.’ You will end up sacrificing your self-respect for the comfort of someone else. It's not worth it.