Dignity does not require becoming cold.

Holding your standards does not require going hard. Some people, on discovering they can say no, become guarded and sharp with everyone, as though warmth and boundaries could not exist in the same person. They can. You can be generous, open, easily moved, and still perfectly clear about what you will not do, and that combination is stronger than either half alone.

If you have recently started holding a line, check whether you have also started closing off. Try keeping the boundary while dropping the edge in your voice. The clearest people are usually the warmest, because they are not braced for a fight that their clarity already prevented.