The Importance Of Our Emotional Limits
It is often said that we can never know how far we are able to endure. That the capacity of the human being to endure and suffer, can sometimes be immense. But it is not entirely true.
One may be living a situation with a high level of stress and anxiety, and not appear outwardly excessive suffering, but inside, the vital suffering is breaking us.
Not only our physical health suffers, being more vulnerable to all kinds of diseases, but also, our self-concept begins to distort.
We will stop even recognizing ourselves, and clearly lose our self-esteem.
We are zombies in life. People who have not been able or have not known how to set a defense limit, a barrier where they can tell us “this is where I’m going to get.”
We know that sometimes it is not easy, that saying “no” can brand us as selfish towards certain people. But if we do not have that self-protection barrier, little by little we will run out of oxygen to breathe.
We will not be able to maintain that emotional autonomy, the basis of our balance and happiness.
Let’s see it next …
How to know when the emotional limit is exceeded?
It is not something simple. When we talk about emotions, many other dimensions are intermingled.
Let’s imagine a work context where we are not well treated, where our efforts are demanded and not recognized. Where we are manipulated.
We are aware that our emotional limit has been exceeded, but nevertheless we need such employment to continue subsisting. To support a family. What can we do?
Surely we will expand that emotional limit a little more, and we will make it a little bigger to accept said interference, said labor extortion. But what will happen in the long term?
The level of stress we will reach will directly affect our health, and even our family relationships : less time, less quality of life …
Let’s take another example: An emotional relationship, a toxic relationship.
We are manipulated by a person who puts their needs before ours, who exerts emotional blackmail and who plunges us into a carousel of ups and downs where we never know what to expect.
We know that we are suffering, that we have lost all emotional limits in favor of that person. But nevertheless, we are unable to react because we are simply in love. What will happen in the long term?
The range of possibilities in these familiar situations can be immense, but the endings are never usually good.
Life, as we already know, tests us almost every day through multiple situations where many emotions are put into play. Knowing how to manage them and knowing how to protect ourselves is essential.
And you, do you know where your emotional limit is?
Maybe you are one of those people who gives everything for others, who precedes the priorities of the rest to yours. A sincere person, of great sensitivity who seeks above all the well-being of those around him.
You may have been disappointed on more than one occasion. That without more, suffering has come before someone who, far from respecting you, has despised you.
Usually occurs. It is the risk that, without a doubt, people with great sensitivity and emotional openness suffer most. They don’t always get what they invest in.
We must know how to set limits and for this there is nothing better than knowing ourselves.
What is it that I could never bear? Being manipulated, being deceived, the pride of other people? Knowing our strengths and weaknesses will help us set limits.
Another essential aspect is to make them known. If, for example, I am not able to say “no” in a specific situation, surely little by little the mountain will end up getting bigger and the problem insurmountable .
In our affective relationships it is essential that we make known what we do not like and that we are not willing to allow: bad words, lack of respect, lack of dialogue, manipulation or blackmail …
If we do not report what we do not want, the other person will never know what to expect. It is a necessity, it is something healthy and necessary.
The same happens with children, if we do not give them guidelines to control their emotions, they will be unable to manage their fears, tantrums and anxieties.
Everything has a limit. We all have a limit, and within it is the correct coexistence, and the balance of our happiness.
And you, do you know where your emotional limits are?
