if you experience any difficulties setting boundaries, its important to remind yourself that setting expectations regarding how you show up for others & yourself is one way of actively showing self-love. you are taking action to avoid burn out & resentment. thus, strengthening your relationship with yourself. in addition, establishing a limit of the extent you can support others gives the those subjected to sexual violence & abuse the independence and responsibility to taking charge of their own healing. by relying on ourselves, we are able to identify our own strengths & discover forms of self-care that we can practice on our own. this can be especially empowering. setting boundaries also gives a sense of predictability & structure to us. healthy boundaries are key to avoiding dependency. they are the starting point of developing a safe, secure & supportive relationship.