What exactly are personal boundaries?
Personal boundaries are how you communicate to the world and to yourself what you will and will not accept in your life. They protect your time and energy.
Do you say “yes” to certain things but you’d rather say “no”? That’s an indicator that you may not have well established boundaries.
Changing your behavior
Protecting your time, money and energy is YOUR responsibility, no one else’s. If people have a tendency to take advantage of you it’s because you are letting them do so. I know this sounds harsh, but you are not a victim. You are just simply not enforcing your boundaries. It’s time to start changing your behavior so that others know how you you expect to be treated.
Don’t be so available
Do you drop everything to immediately answer emails, texts or calls? Do you help your family members do things they are more than capable of doing for themselves? Do you fix other people’s “emergencies” before you take care of your needs?
We usually do these things because we don’t want to offend or hurt someone’s feelings. It’s unhealthy to worry about other people’s feelings more than we worry about our own feelings. In order to protect your time, energy, money and sanity you are going to have to draw a line in the sand.
Silent boundaries
You can silently communicate your personal boundaries through your behavior. When a friend texts during work hours, don’t respond until after work. Put a “do not disturb” sign on your office door so that your co-workers and/or family know it’s not a good time to talk. Turn off all social media notifications so that you don’t get drawn into other people’s drama.
Communicate
Sometimes, silent boundaries are not enough. You will have people in your life who need things spelled out for them. Clearly communicate your with those people either verbally or written. The act of writing out your expectations of what is and/or is not acceptable is a powerful exercise that can help you get crystal clear on how you will protect your time and energy.
Loving Your Home Club member, Teresa Schlup and I discuss how she beautifully communicates her boundaries in order to continually increase her wealth and her health! Watch the video above for some inspiration and take a look at the post on Protecting Your Time in a professional, work environment.