I had a therapist once talk about maintaining healthy boundaries. Basically, healthy boundaries are not all the same for every circumstance; healthy boundaries are flexible.

I kind of see what he is saying along they same lines. We have to be able to listen to ourselves and maintain our own measured control over our own revelations, emotions, etc.

I had a big ol' suit of armor up when it came to my emotions and my ability to be vulnerable, but my therapist didn't ask, expect, or even recommend that I throw it all off at once nor permanently. He always said it was perfectly fine to just take of that left gauntlet for a few minutes and then put it back on if I needed to to feel safe. Over time, maybe I can take off both, or I can leave them off a bit longer. Even when I was able to throw off most of my armor, he recommended keeping it close by. I might need it for certain people; not everyone is safe. I might need it in certain circumstances; if I wasn't feeling as strong and simply needed the safety of more protection for awhile, it was okay to put it back on for awhile.