LeviWritesBooks on Nostr: Thanks for responding. The trade you're making in your relationships, as you say, is ...

Thanks for responding. The trade you're making in your relationships, as you say, is "friendship," which comes with certain expectations. The thing is, there are healthy expectations and unhealthy expectations. It sounds to me like you don't appreciate unhealthy expectations because it means those people take too much from you. That is good. While healthy expectations sound like, "I will respect you, and I want you to respect me," are probably part of your relationships unless you lack interpersonal boundaries. Healthy and functional people have realistic expectations, as opposed to unrealistic expectations. And this is the same thing, in some sense, as having healthy boundaries which keep the toxic from other people out, while letting the good from other people in. Having realistic expectations and boundaries is good and enhances the joy in relationships, while unrealistic expectations and boundaries is not good and damages the joy and connection in relationships.