Breaking the cycle of boundary violations and retaliation is about reclaiming our power by prioritizing our inner balance and responding with purpose.

Is it possible to affirm our worth without descending into the same dynamics we’re trying to avoid?

This pattern of boundary-crossing and retaliation perpetuates cycles of violence and power struggles. When someone crosses a boundary, they assert control or disregard the autonomy of another, often out of their own unmet needs, insecurities, or desire for dominance. The natural response—seeking revenge or reasserting dominance—mirrors this same dynamic.

The response risks validating the very principles it aims to oppose: that power and control can resolve conflict. This “might makes right” mentality locks both parties into a destructive cycle where neither finds true resolution, only temporary supremacy or gratification.

Breaking the cycle requires immense self-awareness and the ability to respond rather than react. Instead of retaliating, one can focus on:

1. Reclaiming agency.

2. Restoring inner balance.

3. Challenging the dynamic by refusing to engage in the cycle of supremacy.

4. Choosing a different kind of strength rooted in clarity, fairness, and self-respect.

It doesn’t mean condoning boundary violations or excusing harmful behaviour. It means asserting our dignity and values in a way that transforms the dynamic, rather than reinforcing it.

I know it easier said than done. This poem is for us all. This poem is to remind us to Break the Cycle.

When they step over your line,

When they trample the sacred soil of your soul,

The first taste on your tongue is fire.

You want to rise, to roar, to make them tremble

With the magnitude of your wrath.

But, that fire,

That burning flame,

Will scorch the hands that hold it tight.

For violence, even in the name of justice,

Knows only how to devour.

It is a hungry beast,

And you, in feeding it, will lose yourself.

No, my dear one. No.

You are not here to mirror their trespass.

You are not here to pick up their broken tools

And carve chaos into the world.

You are here to draw a new line.

Firm, yes, but gentle.

Steady, yes, but kind.

Let your words rise like a river,

Flowing with truth, not venom.

Let them know where you stand

And where they cannot step.

Because power—real power—

Does not scream.

It does not rage in the dark.

Power does not need revenge to feel whole.

Power sits quietly in the room,

Sure of itself, sure of its right to be,

And says, “Here I am. And here I remain.”

You are not made to rule over others.

You are made to master the storm in your chest

And find peace in the center of its fury.

And show the world what grace looks like

When it is tested by fire.

Speak your truth, but do not wield it like a weapon.

Stand your ground, but do not stomp on theirs.

Let them see that your strength

Is not a reflection of their weakness

But a beacon of light they cannot dim.

For every boundary you honor,

For every line you hold with dignity,

You remind the world that power is not in the loudest roar

But in the quiet assurance of a soul

That knows its worth.

Break the cycle.

Let them see

That you cannot be pulled into the storm,

Because you have become the calm.

You can download more poems in defiance of what rules us, to lit up our souls here. A renewal of old myths, old narratives and obsolete systems. What you choose the storm or the calm?

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