Life is a continuous journey of learning, growing, and surviving. One of its lessons evokes viewing life as parenting your self-protection. Just like the parent shows the child to be careful, compassionate, and cautious in the world, so must we teach ourselves to protect our own inner peace, boundaries, and emotional well-being.
Self-protection does not mean simply protecting oneself from physical harm, but perhaps also from anything that might harm one’s mental capacity, emotional balance, energy, and values. Like any good parent, you succeed in life by loving yourself enough to know when to walk away and stand your ground.
In childhood, we may have relied on others as shields. As adults, now it’s an altogether different ball game. This means setting boundaries that defend your dignity. This means listening to your inner voice that says, “This doesn’t feel right.” This means removing yourself from harmful environments and toxic people-sadly, even if it is hard.
Parenting your self-protection is also about being kind to yourself. Sometimes it is not the fight; sometimes it is the process.
