Some situations have boundaries that are unshakeable. For example – do not abuse medical staff in the hospital, regardless of how safe the space has been set up for you to express yourself. If you do that, you can expect consequences. This holds true for places like the workplace.
But some contexts aren’t as clear. Someone might insist that your boundaries should be flexible around them. How you feel about that, and how they feel about you, will determine the outcome of how safe the space will be. For example – for some of us, our mothers will feel like safe places to share quite a lot of information. For others, just the word mother will cause us to clam up, and feel guilty about clamming up.
How or whether these boundaries are clarified, will determine how much information gets shared.
Sometimes, it’s better to not assume the boundaries, and get them clear, in order to reach psychological safety in that space.
Discussion ¬