When someone you care about drains your energy, say: "I love you, but I can't be there for you right now because it costs me my peace." This works because it shows you care while protecting what you need. They may push back at first, but clarity often leads them to respect the boundary.
Setting boundaries with people you love is one of the hardest things we have to do, and it often is a good friend or somebody in our family that's not our primary partner who basically drains us by calling us or texting us or being in our life in a way that doesn't give us energy. And so, the shortest way of setting that boundary with love is to say, I love you, but I can't be there for you right now. Because it's costing me my own peace. I'm sorry, I cannot be there for you right now because it's at the expense of my own peace. And it sounds hard at first and it sounds very difficult to do, but what happens when you tell somebody that, they actually realize that what they're bringing to your life is not giving you peace. And then while they may feel hurt and they might reject you a little bit, it's what sometimes is necessary for them to actually respect you more and stop doing the thing that they're doing and treating you with the respect and care that you also deserve.
