The water bill tripled and nothing in the house looked wrong. No puddle, no burst pipe — just a pinhole behind a bathroom wall, dripping quietly for months. That is exactly what your energy is doing around certain family members. No screaming, no betrayal you could name to a friend. Just a phone call that leaves you hollow, a casual comment that loops for three days, a Sunday dinner you start dreading on Thursday.

"Set boundaries" hasn't fixed it, because telling you to see them less is like telling you to use less water. It manages the bill; it never finds the leak. This book teaches the diagnostic instead. You'll build a Leak Map — what was actually said, when it happened, and exactly what got taken from you — until a vague exhaustion becomes one specific, locatable point. Then you patch that point with a targeted response, and leave the rest of the relationship intact.

You don't have to cut anyone off or become someone colder to stop losing yourself. You just have to find the drip and seal it.