The importance of our emotional limits

It is often said that we can never know how much we can endure. That the human being’s capacity to endure and suffer can sometimes be immense, that it has no emotional limits. But it is not entirely true.

One can be experiencing a situation with a high level of stress and anxiety, and not outwardly appear excessively suffering, but inside, vital suffering is breaking us. Not only does our physical health suffer, making us more vulnerable to all types 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 as far as I am going to go.”

We know that sometimes it is not easy, that saying “no” can brand us as selfish in the eyes of certain people. But If we do not have that self-protection barrier, little by little we will run out of oxygen to be able to breathe. We will not be able to maintain that emotional autonomy, the basis of our balance and happiness.

How do you know when the emotional limit is exceeded?

It’s not something simple. When we talk about emotions, many other dimensions are intertwined. Let’s imagine a work context where we are not treated well, where our efforts are demanded and our efforts are not recognized. Where we are manipulated.

We are aware that our emotional limit has been exceeded, but, nevertheless, we need said 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, etc.

Let’s take another example: An emotional relationship, a toxic relationship. We are manipulated by a person who puts his needs before ours, who exercises 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, simply, we are in love. What will happen in the long term? The range of possibilities in these well-known 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 come into play. Knowing how to manage them and Knowing how to protect ourselves is essential.

And you, do you know where your emotional limits are?

Maybe you are one of those people who gives everything for others, who puts the priorities of others before 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 further ado, suffering has come in the face of someone who, far from respecting you, has despised you. Usually occurs. It is the risk that, without a doubt, most people with great sensitivity and emotional openness suffer. They do not always receive what they invest.

Tips for setting emotional limits

We must know how to set limits and for this there is nothing better than knowing ourselves. What would I never stand? Being manipulated, being deceived, the arrogance of other people?

Knowing our strengths and weaknesses will help us establish limits. Another essential aspect is to make them known. If I, for example, 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 emotional 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 inform 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 thing happens with children, if we do not give them guidelines for controlling their emotions, they will be incapable of managing their fears, tantrums and anxieties. Everything has a limit. We all have a limit, and within it is correct coexistence, and the balance of our happiness. And you, do you know where your emotional limits are?

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