One of the best lessons I’ve learned in my journey of setting boundaries is that you cannot expect people to betray themselves in the same way you do/did.

When you’re constantly compromising yourself in all your decisions “reciprocity” being the issue is a false narrative. The ego says “i just give and give and you just take.” yes that sucks/hurts... but that person does not have to give what you give just because you did it first.

Your first thought will be to get angry over what you give not being reciprocated. And i won’t deny you that justified feeling. And/also the work is in tracing the moment in which you starting betraying yourself and your boundaries. Or did you just not have any?

I think there’s a huge difference between someone taking advantage of you vs someone being unwilling to betray themselves in the same ways as you. Both can be incredibly painful experiences though.