A Friend’s Boundaries

I am your friend.

I am not your entertainment.
I am not your punching bag.
I am not your therapist, garbage disposal, or even your garbage.

I am not here to coddle you.
I am not here to fix your problems.
I am not here for you to use me for my resources, time, energy, or money.

I will not sugar coat.
I will not let you get away with toxic behavior.
I will not entertain your negative posts, attention-seeking, or blame-throwing.

I am your friend.

I will do anything in my power to help you.
I will always be here for you.
I will encourage, respect, and lift you up.

I am here for you; the bad, the good, and everything in between.
I am here to help you.
I am here to hear you, listen to you, lend an ear, be supportive.

I am your shoulder.
I am your pillar.
I am your place to hold space, your ear, your adventure.
And you are mine, too.

I am your friend.

I am truthful to you, even if it hurts.
I am protective of you.
I am loyal, devoted, and faithful to you.

I love deeply.
I love passionately.
I love intensely, overwhelmingly, and powerfully.

But most of all, I am ME, and I am human.

I make mistakes.
I fail.
I have boundaries, triggers, and traumas.

I am worthy of love.
I am full of love and willing to give it to anyone who steps onto my path.
I am shining a light, my light, albeit different from the one you used to know.

I will not change for anyone anymore.
I will not give in to my insecurities just to save a friendship anymore.
I will not let my demons rule me anymore; I have befriended them so that we can work together instead of wage a constant war.

And I have to put myself before anyone else on this planet before I can even think about being a good friend to you.

I am constantly changing, learning, growing, transforming. I am so much more than a bunch of traits. I am a person who loves, feels and experiences things just as you all do. And know that, no matter what, I will never throw any of you away like garbage. You are so much more to me than I can say. If I haven’t been there much in the last few years, I’m sorry. But I’ve been watching, paying attention, and loving from afar. And I’m coming back. A changed person with new boundaries, but I’m rising. If you want to rise with me, I will enjoy and cherish that journey with you.

If I no longer mean that much to you, then I’m also sorry about that. But people and situations change, all the time. If we have grown apart, then so be it. I am no longer that friend who changes who I am to fit each individual friendship. I am becoming who I am, who I want to be, and if that doesn’t suit you anymore, then I wave goodbye and thank you for the journey we’ve had.