Healthy Boundaries

On Twitter, Melissa Fabello shared a text where a friend had asked if she had the emotional/mental capacity to listen to them vent about some things. I thought Melissa made some good points about healthy boundaries, emotional capacity, and open communication.

At the end of the thread, she shared an example template of how you might respond if you don’t have the capacity to support someone in the moment. This template has gotten a lot of hostile backlash which I find really weird and discouraging.

It’s a template, so it’s a guideline you can personalize, not something you just copy/paste. A lot of people said a template shouldn’t be necessary, but that misses the fact it can be very helpful for neurodivergent people or people who don’t have experience communicating their boundaries.

My only small criticism of the thread is her use of the term “emotional labor,” which I believe has a more specific meaning. I don’t think it takes away from her points, though. I may write more about emotional labor separately in coming days.