As a teenager, I told everybody that I didn't care about anything, when the truth was I cared about way too much. Other people ruled my world without… - Mark Manson

Strength isn’t being tough. It’s choosing not to turn into an asshole when you have every right to be.

People lack boundaries because they have a high level of neediness (or in psych terms, codependence). People who are needy or codependent, have a desperate need for love and affection from others. To receive this love and affection, they sacrifice their identity and remove their boundaries.

(Ironically, it’s the lack of identity and boundaries that makes them unattractive to most people.)

People who blame others for their own emotions and actions do so because they believe that if they put the responsibility on those around them, they’ll receive the love they’ve always wanted and needed. If they constantly paint themselves as a victim, eventually someone will come save them.

There is such pressure in the West to be likable that people often reconfigure their entire personality depending on the person they’re dealing with.