A Spark by Innocent Mwatsikesimbe from The Vision, chapter 46

Boundaries don’t hold themselves. The lines are yours to draw — physical, emotional, mental — and drawing them is only the start. You have to “set, maintain and fight for” them before anyone treats them as real.

People cross them in two ways. Some do it without knowing, which traces back to a line never made clear to them. Others cross knowingly, having chosen not to respect it. It is fair to ask how anyone is meant to respect a line they were never told about.

There is a quieter return as well. “Though they might not admit it, people respect those who define and enforce their own personal boundaries.” And the self-worth is yours: it comes of deciding what you will protect, then protecting it.