Recognizing the validity of your own needs allows you to set healthy boundaries with others.

Setting boundaries is just the first step. Staying true to them means you’ll need to write them down and make small, consistent tweaks to your lifestyle to honor them.

One more email. One more text. One more date on the calendar. It’s shocking how one more can quickly become 20 more things to do. Soon, it seems you can’t get ahead or catch your breath. While work and personal life will inevitably throw stressful situations your way, adding healthy boundaries into your daily routine will help your mental well-being and allow you to navigate challenging times when they do rise.

Overbooking and overpromising is a hard habit to break, but it can have real implications to your health, especially if you have anxiety and/or a stress-related disorder. Everyone, however, can benefit from setting healthy boundaries. When you establish healthy boundaries, you allow others to be seen and heard while respecting your own needs and wants. Here are some tips to keep in mind:

• Understand your stressors and define your limits. To start, write down the cause of your stress. Is it constantly checking your phone for work emails? Is it a group text that never stops pinging with notifications? Seeing your stressors on paper may help you brainstorm ways to prevent them from happening. Your limit may be to only work a certain number of hours in the day or cut back screen time. By writing down your limits, you can hold yourself accountable. Maybe it’s time to let go and stay true to yourself.
• Start with small, consistent adjustments. Set yourself up for success with attainable changes. You’ll be amazed at how even the smallest tweaks will snowball and impact your mental well-being. This could include disabling notifications on your phone and limiting your tech access, creating focus time blocks in your calendar and distancing yourself from relationships that leave you feeling “less than.” If you ever waiver on whether to take on “one more,” ask yourself if the to-do is in line with your defined limits.
• Practice self-compassion. There will be tasks, events and situations that blindside you. There will be others you take on against your better judgment. Give yourself some grace! Acknowledge the situation then communicate to others how you’re feeling and ask for help. We’re all human. You may be surprised at how compassionate others can be.

Setting healthy boundaries is something you’ll likely need to revisit in different seasons of your life (which is why it’s good to write them down). Making your mental well-being a priority and demonstrating how to do so through your actions allows you to set an example for family, friends and coworkers.

Used with permission from Mental Health First Aid.