How do I hold my boundaries with clients who keep pushing them?

You can hold boundaries now, which is real growth. It is the clients who push, who test, who lean on you past the line, that still knock you off balance. That pull is strong precisely because you are a caring person, and caring people find it hardest to hold firm against someone in need. A boundary is not a wall against people. It is what lets you keep helping them without being consumed. When a client pushes, they are not usually trying to harm you, they are reaching for more because they are struggling. You can meet that with warmth and still hold the line. Kindness and firmness are not opposites. The steadiest boundaries are the gentle ones that do not move. Decide your limits before you are in the moment, so you are not negotiating them under pressure. When a client pushes, you can say no clearly and kindly because you settled it in advance. The line holds better when it is drawn in calm, not in the heat of the pull. You are close. Now make the boundary something you keep, not something you defend each time.