Owning Your Backpack

I love my backpack. It carries my "life." Inside it is my daily load of toil and tasks. It also carries my own thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. I'm responsible for carrying my own backpack. A problem arises when I act as if another person should carry my own backpack and be responsible for what is not his. In effect, such hands over to another my own life and its control. My own backpack shows what is me, and what is not me. It shows me where I end and someone else begins. This basic principle of recovery and well-being is called "boundaries." When my self-boundaries are healthy, it leads me to a sense of wholeness, freedom, and responsibility.