I don’t know about you, but I’m already beginning to feel pressed by the approaching holiday season. The expectations of others have already commenced their slow, grinding, painful squeeze on my psyche.
Will Grandma be in suitable condition to leave assisted living for Thanksgiving? Does Auntie need a ride from the airport? Where is everyone staying? Who has off of school or work and when? Why won’t our youngest stop with the perseveration that has already begun over her Christmas list? Can we all just go into hiding until January?
If ever there was a time to set boundaries, it is this season of the year!
Anyone who knows me in the least realizes that I am BIG on boundaries. The series of books written by Drs. Henry Cloud and John Townsend set me free after a lifetime of growing up in a boundary-less family. They helped me discern when to appropriately assert myself. I credit these authors with teaching me to stand up to guilty manipulation.
