Connections and Boundaries Worksheets

Connection & Boundaries Worksheets

Excerpted from Staying Steady: Practical Tools to Interrupt Overwhelm and Build Resilience Under Authoritarian Assault

by Paul T. Shattuck, MSW, PhD

The holidays bring a double bind for many of us. Some of us are dreading family gatherings where we'll have to navigate political landmines or bite our tongues for hours. Others are facing the amplified loneliness of the season—isolation made heavier by everyone else's togetherness. Some of us are facing both in the same week.

These worksheets offers two tools: one for mapping who actually steadies you, and one for navigating risky spaces without losing yourself. Use them before you walk into that room—or before you decide whether to walk in at all.

What's not included here: The full boundary mapping exercise (identifying what you won't discuss, your exit signals, your exact exit line before you need it). The "What Recharges You" activity inventory for identifying which activities restore you with which people. The Risk Assessment Inventory for mapping which relationships carry real danger right now. And Practices 1-6 covering recognition, rescue, and resilience.

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