Boundaries with yourself refer to the idea of drawing a line between what is okay for you and what is not okay.
Sometimes we don’t know where the boundary needs to be until we cross it, and we feel angry with ourselves, disappointed or ashamed. Boundaries between yourself and others keep us healthy and prevent burnout.
Here is an example of learning a healthy personal boundary. Let’s imagine work is crazy. It is an especially busy time of the year, and all hands are on deck. Over a two-week period, you find yourself online answering emails later and later at night. At first, this is fine, and you find yourself fast asleep by 10 pm and getting a good 8 hours of sleep. After two weeks, you find you are still answering emails at midnight, and then you are struggling to get to sleep. The last few nights, you have fallen asleep at 3 am and are getting 3-4 hours of sleep per night.
This is time to PAUSE. This is time to re-think what you are doing and set healthy boundaries with work and yourself. If you continue like this, you will end up with burnout.
Boundaries help us to have respect and trust in ourselves. It can be helpful to write down our boundaries and carry them around with us as a reminder. They are like little promises to yourself that lead to greater self-respect and self-trust.
What boundaries do you find helpful?
Love Jen
