Why We Must Update Our Own Personal Privacy Policies Too

[WeSurviveAbuse.com]

Companies update their privacy policies all the time. It’s usually tucked away in a long email that most people don’t read, but it matters. Why? Because the world is constantly changing—new laws, new threats, new technology, and new ways that people try to exploit others. Updating privacy policies helps companies adjust their protections, clarify what data they collect, and (ideally) build or maintain trust with users.

But here’s what we don’t talk about enough:
You need a privacy policy too. For your life. For your safety. For your peace.

And you need to update it.

Why We Need Personal Privacy Policies

Think about it—what you were okay with five years ago may not fit the person you are now. Maybe you’re more protective of your time, energy, or location. Maybe you’ve grown, healed, or survived something that now makes you more cautious. That is valid. That is wise.

Just like companies don’t announce every single reason they change policies, you don’t owe anyone long explanations either. But you do owe yourself an honest look at what boundaries are outdated, what’s been left too open, and where you need more security.

Here’s How to Start Updating Your Privacy Policy:

1. Reevaluate Access:
   Who has access to your personal life, time, body, or home? Should they?

2. Reclaim Your Data:
   Stop oversharing. Online or in-person. You are allowed to keep your goals, relationships, and healing process private.

3. Check Your Settings:
   Just like you review your phone settings, review your emotional and social ones. Is anything set to “public” that should be “close friends only,” “trusted family,” or “me, myself, and I”?

4. Add New Clauses:
   You can create new rules. Maybe now you don’t pick up calls after 8pm. Maybe you don’t explain yourself to people who’ve violated you in the past. Maybe you stop answering texts that drain you.

5. Communicate Boundaries When Needed:
   You don’t have to issue a press release, but a clear “that’s not something I share anymore” or “I don’t do that” will do.

Survivors, You Especially Deserve This

After experiencing abuse, it’s common to feel like our boundaries were erased or ignored. That’s why it’s even more important for us to reestablish our own guidelines—and honor them. Your privacy policy is not just about protection. It’s about power, dignity, and healing.

You get to decide what’s public and what stays private. You get to grow and change and revise what you allow in your sacred space.

You do not have to allow someone saying: “You’ve changed” concern you. We are supposed to change. Those same people do not say that to anything or anyone else in their when it changes. Only you, because they want you to stop changing. To stop evolving. 

You are not a company. You’re a soul.
But even souls- especially souls-need privacy policies.

And yours? Deserves to be updated often—and respected always.

Evolve as nature intended.