Saying no, and setting boundaries is essential to healthy living. Constantly putting others first and neglecting your own needs and wants is not only harmful to you emotionally, but can be physically draining as well.
The Live in Boldness team explains how to protect your energy by creating boundaries and saying no.
The Importance of Boundaries
Setting clear boundaries and speaking up when they are violated, is the key to protecting your peace and energy. A personal boundary is defined as:
“Guidelines, rules, or limits that a person creates to identify reasonable, safe, and permissible ways for other people to behave towards them and how they will respond when someone passes those limits.”
Being vocal about what is and is not okay to you gives the people in your life distinct guidelines. When you allow people to break these rules, you are the one that suffers the most. Practicing saying no creates a safety net for yourself.
5 Ways To Protect Your Energy
1. Stop Giving Out So Many Favors
It is easy to overextend ourselves for the ones we love. And it is great to go above and beyond with kindness, but not when it comes with too much personal cost.
Stop next time you are asked a favor and ask if it aligns with you. Will doing this favor make you feel good and warm, or will it drain the last bit of your energy?
2. Go Home or Stay In When You Feel Like It
You know that feeling you get when you are out somewhere and just want to go home? Well, go home! Listen to your body and crawl into bed if that’s what you want to do.
The same goes for not going out in the first place if you don’t feel like it. Don’t worry, your friends will understand if you set those boundaries!
3. Take That Nap or Break
Again, listen to your body. Take a nap if you need one. If you are struggling to get work done, give yourself the gift of a nap, or go for a walk and see how much better you can concentrate after.
Changing your physiology, even briefly, can increase your energy and balance you out.
4. Surround Yourself With Positivity
We absorb everything around us. From the TV we watch, the music and podcasts we listen to, and the company we keep. Ensuring that these things are mostly positive, will help protect your energy from the world.
If you know you are going to be around people that drain you, meditate beforehand and center yourself. If you watch something negative, balance yourself after with something positive. These small actions can make a bigger difference than you might think.
5. Say No
Start by saying no. It sounds easy, but it can take practice to be vocal about what you need or how you feel. Don’t be too hard on yourself, start by setting those boundaries, and protecting your energy in small ways.
Saying no is self-care. Take care of yourself first, so that you are able to take care of the people you love. This is like when you are in an airplane, they ask you to put your mask on first in case of an emergency before helping anyone else.
You are unable to help others when you neglect yourself.
Self Care is Self Love
Ultimately, saying no and setting boundaries is self-love, and self-love is self-care. Love yourself, so you can love others. Protect your energy above all else.
Leave a Reply