I believe one’s marriage is their haven. It guards you and protects you. The person you married is always there for you. According to your priorities, your family and friends should come next.
We, as humans, are social beings. This is why we need friends to socialize with. But that is to a certain extent because every union needs set boundaries.
Boundaries can be physical or emotional. They can also be mental or spiritual. Most importantly, they are personal and unique to each person.
This is why all marriages need marriage boundaries with friends. I am here to help you with a few tips and examples on how to set them, what to pay attention to, and what not to try.
7 Examples Of Healthy Marriage Boundaries With Friends
Here are a few examples of boundaries concerning friends in your marriage:
Sharing secrets with friends is not a good idea. Some boundaries should not be crossed when it comes to marriage. Some people share their spouses’ secrets with their friends.
In fact, they might be sharing sensitive information about their spouse and might even be openly discussing their marital problems with them. This is not a good idea because they might get hurt. To avoid these problems, couples should know the healthy boundaries of marriage.
2. Stay appropriate
I know most of us love to share spicy details from our lives. But we should ask ourselves if this is a good idea. Would we be invading our significant other’s privacy, and would they be okay with this?
This is why I recommend not discussing sexual matters and other incriminating details with your friends, even when there are no secrets. Again, the gender of the friend isn’t crucial.
3. Think before you do
I think this is a rule more than a boundary, but I follow it all the time: If you wouldn’t say or do something in front of your spouse, don’t say or do it in front of your friends. This is a great tip when fighting the call of the forbidden fruit and making sure you don’t cross any boundaries.
A lot of couples tend to forget about boundaries when they are with their friends. However, these boundaries are necessary for successful marriages in the long run. Still, we all strive for transparency in our relationships.
4. Nurture same-gender friendships
I know this sounds old-fashioned, but when your spouse doesn’t like your friends of the opposite gender, you might turn to your female friends (or male friends, of course).
In fact, in most circumstances, same-gender friendships can actually benefit a person’s relationship with their spouse.
This is because other people of the same gender can teach you more about dealing with certain problems and help you overcome problems in your marriage.
5. Minimal one-on-one time
Another one of the marriage boundaries with friends concerning the opposite gender is having minimal or no one-one time with your friends of the opposite gender. Again, this might be a bit old-fashioned.
Still, I am sure this boundary can help fight all doubts about infidelity, deepen the loyalty in your marriage, and make your spouse feel better about your friendship.
6. Be open with your spouse
Support in a relationship is the key to happiness. Thy is why lying is a boundary you shouldn’t cross. Being honest in your marriage is as important as communication and love.
Whatever your friends might think or feel, make sure you discuss it with your spouse. In fact, your friends might be gaslighting or manipulating you, and talking to your spouse will help you see both sides of the story.
7. Marriage comes first
Regardless of friends, your marriage needs to come first. This should be a rule for both you and your partner.
One of the most important factors is communication. When two people communicate, they can work through their problems and avoid divorce, cheating, and awful in-laws.
The Importance Of Setting Boundaries Concerning Friends
Marriage is a big commitment, and it is important to set boundaries with your partner. It is also important to be able to communicate with your partner about what you want and need in your relationship.
But what happens when someone’s friends start getting in the way? Some people might feel like they can’t say no to their friends, and they can’t say no to what their friends want them to do.
It’s crucial to establish boundaries in a marriage. A person should be able to trust their spouse, and at the same time, a person should be able to have some privacy. This is why marriage boundaries with friends are a crucial part of a happy marriage.
A red flag can be an opposite-sex friendship that can evolve into an emotional connection or even best friends that poke their noses into your private lives.
This is why you might need to set a few new boundaries, even if you already have healthy boundaries in your marriage relationship.
In a relationship, it is important to set boundaries with your friends. To maintain the health of your marriage, you must know who is and who is not allowed in your life.
What Is An Inappropriate Friendship When Married?
An inappropriate friendship is one that you have with someone who has the potential to be a threat to your marriage. It may be someone who is not your spouse, a friend of the opposite sex, co-workers, high school sweethearts, good friends, married men, and women.
An inappropriate friendship when married is a friendship that is not appropriate for a married person. It can be a personal relationship, which can be just as damaging as an affair.
In this case, the line of cheating might be blurry, and you might not be sure whether what your partner is doing is considered cheating.
An example of an inappropriate friendship is anything from emotional partnerships, sexual encounters, sexual social media accounts, and text messages that can cause infidelity, and people of the opposite sex who flirt or give off hints of infidelity.
These inappropriate friendships might not seem like a big deal but can lead to an emotional affair. They threaten married couples and are definitely not considered healthy friendships.
With these friendships, you can halt your romantic relationship with your significant other and hurt your own feelings and the emotional well-being of your own marriage.
Set Boundaries In Your Marriage
I won’t have to tell you about the importance of boundaries in any relationship. This concerns close friends, spouses, members of the opposite sex, and in-laws.
To set boundaries, a couple needs to have an honest conversation about what they want from their relationship and what they don’t want from their partner.
This is why you need to sit down with your partner and set marriage boundaries with friends by yourselves. I hope I have helped you grasp the concept and that you can hopefully use it in your marriage too.