 One time, a lion got caught in a hunter's net. So tight that no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get himself free. But just as he was giving up hope, he saw a little mouse running past and he thought, aha, maybe the mouse can help. So he called out to the mouse and he said, please, please, will you chew through these ropes and set me free? Otherwise, when the hunter comes back, he's going to kill me. Now, the mouse, however, wasn't really sure that he wanted to help. Suppose the lion decided to kill him when he set him free. After all, he's been tied up all day. He's bound to be hungry by now. The lion, however, promised and swore that he would not hurt the mouse. He begged and pleaded for his life and eventually the mouse agreed to help. And so the mouse started to chew through all of the ropes of the net, one by one, till he came to the very last rope of the net and there he stopped. Now, this was the rope. If he chewed through this one, it would set the lion free. But this is where the mouse stopped. The lion, as you can imagine, was absolutely furious. He roared with anger. You have let me down. You're going back on your word. He said, you want the hunter to kill me. You are an evil creature. No, said the mouse. I will set you free just as I promised. But I am going to do this when I see the hunter coming back towards us because that is the only way that I can ensure my own safety. See, if I set you free now, you may or may not keep your word about not harming me, but I will not be able to do anything about it. If however I wait till the hunter comes back at that time, your only thought will be about your own safety. You will make a run for it. And I know that I will be safe as well. So what is the moral of the story? It's very simply that we are responsible for ourselves. Sacrificing yourself to help others or destroying yourself to do good for others doesn't make you a hero. The truth is, it makes you a victim and you become a burden for somebody else. Learn to say no if it's not working for you. People can only respect your boundaries if you can respect your own boundaries.