Step 7 Day 1: Turn the Other Cheek. Just Not the One They Meant--A New Approach in Setting Boundaries

Sometimes turning the other cheek means turning toward the light and walking away.

There was a time I thought “getting sick of people” meant I was failing at being spiritual. When I felt drained by the drama, the entitlement, the subtle digs disguised as jokes, I told myself I needed to be more patient. More forgiving. More evolved.

Turn the other cheek. 

Let it go. 

Don’t take it personally. 

Be the bigger person.

And for a while, I did. I stayed calm. I smiled. I endured.

Until one day I realized I was sick....sick in my body, sick in my bones from turning the same damn cheek over and over again, hoping my agreeableness would protect me.

Spoiler alert: it didn’t.

That’s when a different voice in me, lower, wiser, done, whispered: You’ve turned that cheek. Now turn the one on your backside and walk away.

And honestly? That’s the one that saved me.

Sometimes, setting boundaries doesn’t look graceful. It doesn’t come with a soft aura or a filtered quote. It comes with an eye-roll, a gut knowing, and a full-bodied Nope.

It’s not about being unkind. It’s about being done.

A Slice of Humble Pie: Turning the other cheek doesn’t mean offering myself up to be hit again. Sometimes the most sacred exit is the one where my back is facing the bullshit.

Reflection: When have you mistaken endurance for virtue? What moment in your life asked you to “stay calm,” when what you really needed was to walk away?

Affirmation: I don’t owe my peace to people who disturb it. I am allowed to walk away.

Boundaries don’t always look graceful. Step 7 reminds us that walking away isn’t unkind. It’s survival. Sometimes peace comes from turning away.