I made this for a client and I’m sharing it with their permission. I recently wrote about removing toxic people from your life and creating a Family of Choice. This person didn’t need to nor want to completely remove people from their life, but started to “only pour into people who pour into me,” by which they meant loosening their ties with people who were not reciprocating their efforts while also strengthening their bonds with people who do. I thought their phrasing was wonderful, and instantly meme-able.

“Pour only into people who pour into you” is another way of saying “Givers need to have limits because takers don’t have many”, which I believe is attributed to Henry Ford.

Boundary setting is a life skill that is denied too many people. It’s not merely a tool nor a self-defense, though it is that too, but it’s a life skill just like balancing your bank account or cooking. As children we’re socialized to think about other people’s and not be totally self-centered, which is laudable, but we need to also teach kids how to have healthy Boundaries.

Boundaries don’t make you selfish, they make you difficult to manipulate—and that’s a fundamental life skill.

I coach compassion-driven people in becoming stronger.

Additional:

If you will allow me a moment of brag, I made that coffee mug myself! I did pottery for a few years, that's another story that maybe I'll tell sometime. The foam heart coffee art is AI generated, I don't actually have the proper foaming equipment at home to do that, so when I added the text in Photoshop I also added the foam heart coffee art. Still, I'm very proud of the mug.