We all struggle with some people in our lives ignoring our boundaries, and then we wonder how we can maintain our boundaries in the future and remain focused and connected to our healing and growth while living with hurt feelings.

As human beings, we are social animals. We thrive through our social networks throughout our lives. Together, we learn and grow. We define who we are, what we want, how we treat others, and how we wish to be treated. At times, we find it necessary to create healthy boundaries between ourselves and the people in our lives.

Healthy personal boundaries work in the same way as a well-constructed and maintained fence. While most of us are familiar with the phrase, “Good fences make good neighbors,” few are familiar with its origin in a 1914 poem by Robert Frost called “Mending Wall.” In this poem, the author examines the often-fraught interpersonal dynamics of two neighbors who learn a lot about boundaries through their evolving desire to engage and challenge one another while attempting to respect one another’s property.

When we set out to establish healthy boundaries with the people in our lives, what we are essentially doing is correcting unhealthy patterns of over-dependency in........

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