When Protecting Your Peace Turns Into Isolation
Finding balance between boundaries and connection
by Maia Simmons ★ October 26th, 2025
Photo Credits: Lola Jeanne Carpio
“Protecting your peace” has become the go-to explanation for skipping plans, cutting people off, or spending the night alone instead of socializing. And while setting boundaries is essential, sometimes we protect our peace so much that we start isolating ourselves without even realizing it.
There’s a difference between taking time to recharge and completely retreating from the world. Being alone can be grounding—it gives you space to reflect, rest, and find clarity. But too much solitude starts to feel like quicksand. Days blur together, texts go unanswered, and you tell yourself you’re just “tired,” when really, you’re lonely. The same walls that once made you feel safe slowly start keeping the world out.
It’s easy to justify it as self-preservation. Social media glorifies cutting people off the moment they disappoint us, framing it as “growth.” But growth also looks like grace. Real relationships—whether friendships, family, or romantic—require communication, patience, and understanding. Before deciding someone “no longer serves you,” pause. Check in. Be honest about how you feel. Give people the chance to show up differently before you decide to walk away.
Protecting your peace doesn’t mean saying “no” to everything or everyone. Sometimes, it means saying “yes” to the plans you almost canceled. It’s showing up when it would’ve been easier to stay in bed. It’s remembering that laughter with friends, spontaneous nights out, or even a quick coffee chat can refill you in ways solitude never could.
Boundaries are healthy. Avoidance is not. You can’t find true peace in isolation—it lives somewhere between stillness and connection.
At its core, protecting your peace is about balance: knowing when to rest and when to reach out. Because real peace isn’t just found in quiet moments alone—it’s in the calm that comes from being surrounded by the right people, the ones who remind you that being understood can be just as healing as being alone.
Edited by: Chloe Rudnick